When Santa Ana Schools Used Mexican Students as Janitors and Gardeners

By Gustavo Arellano Thu., Jan. 5 2012 at 3:00 PM

Categories: Gunkist Memories, School Daze

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The annals of Orange County's relations with its Mexicans will always be updated with the rank racism of the past (and today!), yet some anecdotes can still make any good person stop and shake their head. For instance: I knew that school administrators in segregated Mexican schools during the 1930s through the 1950s had schoolchildren participate in exercises they claimed would get them ready to join their family in the fields and orchards of la naranja--but I never knew that SanTana schools required their students to work as their janitors and gardeners.

The stunning details are laid out in a Orange County Grand Jury report from 1920. Titled "Let Children Help," the jury recommended that schools with Mexican students follow the lead of SanTana schools, "who keep their yards in immaculate order by giving the children twenty minutes a week physical exercise in picking up papers and in cleaning weeds from their yards."

Physical exercise--yeah...

No idea of how many schools took the Grand Jury's suggestion, although I know that as late as the 1960s, Anaheim junior high and high schools would make Mexican students clean restrooms just because they were Mexican. And people wonder why Mexis are always so pissed off at gabas...

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What an asenine comment or comments. No wonder Asian women are marrying out of thier race in record numbers - me luv you long time!
And the spinning of racism goes on and on...found the report yet?
...says the man who is a homophobe AND an apologist for the Klan. Act your age, old man, and leave the serious discussion to actual adults.
You know this is where I go typical guy... Mind, meet gutter!
:-D Your lady is awesome...give her a kiss for me!
http://www.retronaut.co/2011/05/american-child-labour-c-1900-1937/
You're right and I do take certain liberties when poking fun at Mexican stereotypes since my wife is Latina and very successful and she owes it all to her own hard work she paid for her own college and has worked her way from basically a file clerk to mid management at a nationally recognized insurance company all before she was 30. (And currently is making more than me) So i got it pretty good with my sexy mexican sugar momma!
American (white) Child Labor, 1900-1937 http://www.retronaut.co/2011/05/american-child-labour-c-1900-1937/Compared to European, French Canadian, and just plain old American white kids on the East Coast, New England, and the mid-West, Mexican kid in California had it easy.
GA said: "I know that as late as the 1960s, Anaheim junior high and high schools would make Mexican students clean restrooms just because they were Mexican." You "know" this huh? And your evidence is ..........
Gustavo's definition of "white supremacist":Point out the illogical conclusions of Gustavo - you are a white supremacist - priceless.You have become a caricature of yourself Gustavo - you are a joke. Your "blockbuster" OC Klan series is a bust - so now you try to gin up more stupid shit. Point out the illogical conclusions of Gustavo - you are a white supremacist - priceless. You have become a caricature of yourself Gustavo - you are a joke. Your "blockbuster" OC Klan series is a bust - so now you try to gin up more stupid shit.
And the white-supremacist Catholic rides again...
It's funny how Asians bitch about things like immigration restrictions. How many people does China allow to immigrate officially? 0 India has a 'brown India' policy where 'desis' down to the 4th generation removed can pretty much show up and get an 11 year residence visa, but no non-Indians can settle or work legally. (India also has built a wall between it and its even more shithole southern neighbor, Bangladesh? Japan -- they are even kicking out immigrants of Japanese descent (most hailing originallly from Brazil). Don't even talk about letting in significant numbers of SouthEast Asians. The ethnic Chinese of Hong Kong refuse to accept as citizens the Filipinos who 'clean their houses, raise their children' The ethnic Chinese of Singapore have a population policy specifically designed to maintain their dominance.
Actually there is a cottage industry of Chinese bringing in their elderly relatives to receive social security benefits, despite their never paying into the system. http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/pub/Immigration/WelfareUse/WelfareUsageReport/FullNMReport.html
".. the jury recommended that schools with Mexican students follow the lead of SanTana schools .." Santa Ana schools were majority white at that time - the white kids were picking up trash & picking weeds.
you cant be more wrong... i know everything about the discrimination against asians in this country.. it was 10 times worse than any of the things mexicans had to go through.. and yet, unlike your brethren who hide their personal failure behind excuses of racism and some mythical atzlan country while waitng for some mexican messiah that will give their mythical country back to them, we worked harder and didnt ask for any hand-outs from this country... as a result, we dont abuse the social services like your amigos... in fact, since we pay much more than we receive, we are subsidizing your illegal ass....
You know so little of your people's history it's pathetic. Please go get a conscience, then get a life. I feel horrible that your son will grow up with a horrible person as their role model...
Better yet, go find all that info yourself! It's there for the taking!
yeah, whites werent very nice to my people... but unlike yours we didnt give a damn and now they work for us... but dont feel bad, your people are also rising up the social ranks..oh wait, never mind. lol
Yeah, your beloved good old days, when your kind was lynched--typical ahistorical pendejo...
"I know that as late as the 1960s, Anaheim junior high and high schools would make Mexican students clean restrooms just because they were Mexican" Got proof? For that matter, why not post a scan of the supposed 'Grand Jury Report' so we can understand it. After all, weren't many school in Santa Ana majority white in 1920 -- is the report referring to these schools? Did mostly white schools also do this sort of thing? Even in my day, we had eraser monitors (i.e. cleaners) etc.
ah, the good ole days, how i miss them... lol.... im not even gonna comment, it's way too easy...
But it seems worse to assume every Latino person is intellectually incapable of little more than manual labor than it is assuming all Asians are good at math. Not to say that either scenario is in any way acceptable..but they are different, somehow....a matter of Lower vs. Higher expectations, if you will.
Everyone has their skillset... Our class treasurer was Asian, Tell me that shit wasn't a walking stereotype.