During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, education for immigrants and Mexican-American children was a major problem. As both groups started migrating across parts of the United States, questions about what to do about educating the children started being asked. Unfortunately, teaching immigrant children was for the most part frowned upon. Since these groups were discriminated against, the chances for a Chicano or any other immigrant to finish their schooling was slim to none. There are many other similarities, as well as differences between these two groups.
             Probably the most important ingredient in establishing a good school is hiring good teachers. Unfortunately, teachers willing to take the time to teach immigrant children were hard to come by. An immigrant student described his first grade teacher as "cold and forbidding." Teachers would often mispronounce or not say a student's name at all. And many times children were give an "Americanized" name. Mike, whose name was Serbian, went by Thomas because his teacher wouldn't pronounce or spell his name. Physical punishment by teachers was also very common in public schools. In one example, a student refused to go to school because every time he was wrong his teacher would abuse him. Not only would she hit him, but she encouraged other students to hit him also. A year later, his next teacher broke a ruler on him for reading a book under his desk. Mexican-American children were often told to "go back to the god-damned beet fields." This verbal abuse did not help with stu!
             dents' self-confidence. Because of this, most immigrant and Mexican-American children never even made it into the high school level.
             Another similarity between Mexican-American and other immigrant children is the fact that they had to work to make money for their family. It was often necessary for everyone in the family to work in or...