An ethnographic study examined the role of language, discrimination, and aspirations in the school success of Latino students in a small rural town. The town, located about 1,000 miles from Mexico and about 200 miles from any sizeable Latino community, contains about 200 Latinos. Almost all are Mexicans or Mexican Americans and have come to work at a local meat processing plant. About 50 Latino children attend local schools; 20-40 percent have limited English proficiency, but many of the rest have trouble with academic English. Observations concerning Latino attitudes toward community and schools, family life, acculturation, language usage and attitudes, community attitudes toward Latinos, school treatment of Latino students, and educational aspirations demonstrate that Latinos in this town share linguistic and cultural patterns with other U.S. Latinos and have similar educational aspirations. They live in a different social environment, however, and suffer less discrimination, leading researchers to expect greater school success. Unexpectedly, Latino outcomes have been influenced by a longstanding local Anglo pattern of female student success and male student failure. Apparently, Latinos have picked up and intensified this pattern because of factors peculiar to their situation: Latino sex role patterns and working-class stereotypes of male behavior. The findings illustrate the context-dependent character of Latino school success. Contains 21 references. (SV)