Draws on the relevant social science literature as well as on research in Crystal City and in other south Texas cities, and delineates and examines the problems which confront and may militate against the formation and effectiveness of Chicano political organizations at the local level. (Author/AM)

This essay focuses on the politics of public education for the disadvantaged. Specifically, an attempt is made to describe the conditions under which the disadvantaged have sought to change the public schools by adopting one of two political strategies--integration or community control. The discussion of the first strategy, integration, includes…