The purpose of this essay is to uncover the factors which have so greatly affected the educational and social aspect of the Puerto Rican's life in the New York metropolitan area. It is concluded that school systems are obviously not going to foster disorder or encourage criticism. The initiative is up to the community. The Puerto Rican community still needs to be educated as to its rights and responsibilites. But many are beginning to organize, to ask questions, to attend meetings of the Boards of Education. The awakened interest in Puerto Rican pupils is a direct result from an awakening Puerto Rican community. Two themes must be singled out for future work: (1) the complexity of language functioning, and (2) the complexity of the social settings in which language is employed. A lack of awareness of these very different sets of complexities has frequently led to unjustified generalizations. Four specific suggestions for action on the part of the community are made (1) to carefully assess the needs of the children in terms of language, academic subjects, tutorial services, extra-curricular activities, etc.; (2) to state explicitly the community's expectations of the school; (3) to state explicitly the objectives which the community feels education should fulfill; and, (4) to state the role which should be played by the parent in the activities of the school. (Author/JM)