Sociology 2111 Worksheet Chicano: Taking Back the Schools

1. What were the basic issues leading to the 1968 school boycott in East Los Angeles?

2. Who planned the walkout? How would you account for the high rate of participation? How many schools and students were ultimately involved in the boycott?

3. What was the result of the initial meeting between student leaders and the school board?

4. How did the police get involved, and how did they treat the protestors? Who was eventually arrested and on what charges?

5. How did parents get involved?

6. How did the criminal justice system get involved?

Sociology 2111 Group project "Chicano: Taking Back the Schools"

1. What are the major factors making high quality education more difficult in Los Angeles

? Do you have any reason to believe that schools in central cities are any better than at the time of this walk-out?

2. What do you see as the most appropriate and effective way for students and their parents to bring about change in such schools? Do you believe social movement tactics are justified in this situation? What are the pros and cons?

3. How would we as sociologists develop a theory that could explain and perhaps even predict the circumstances in which people are apt to use social movement tactics on a large scale?

4. How can you apply social reproduction theory to the situation of the Chicano students in the schools portrayed in this video?