The schools in Morenci played a big role in shaping us. By first grade, I had figured out that English was the key to success. I learned English in kindergarten but when I started first grade at Coronado Elementary School, I was put in a class with all Chicano students who spoke mostly Spanish. My best friend, Nellie, and I were tested by the principal and must have performed to her satisfaction because she personally delivered us to the top first grade class. more

Both Nellie and I managed to stay in the top classses all the way through elementary school but other Chicanitos came and went. By the time we reached high school, only a handful of us were tracked into college prep classes. My brother and male cousins told me the counselor used to tell them, "You don't need college prep, you're going to work in the mine." more

Teachers varied in ability and tolerance. I was lucky with all except my fifth grade teacher. I thought she was mean, especially to Chicanitos. My cousins weren't as lucky. In third grade at Fairplay Elementary School, most of them had an old biddy that hated Chicanos and hurt them physically, slapping their hands with a ruler for small indiscretions and spanking them for larger ones. At a school festival one year, she pinned crepe paper through my cousin's white shirt onto his skin. When my aunt saw his bloody shirt, she was so angry, she gave Mrs. F. a piece of her mind and my cousin was not bothered the rest of the year. However, he carried that scar all his life, as well as the internal scars she gave him by belittling him in class. more