Traces the development of Anglo-Saxon superiority theories from the nineteenth century onward and demonstrates their impact on social conditions in the southwest, specifically on school segregation in Santa Paula School District (California) from the 1920s to the present. (DM)

School environments dominated by high socioeconomic status levels have a negative effect on ethnic self-attitudes and on ethnic salience in self-identification, but Anglo-dominated school environments alone do not. In a test of the effect of different levels of Anglo dominance in schools on the ethnic self-attitudes of Hispanic elementary…

School environments conducive to equal status relations appear counter-productive to assimilation, according to a study of the relationship between school status characteristics and assimilation levels achieved by Hispanic sixth graders. A prior study provided data for this research from 10 desegregated elementary schools in California regarding…