ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Lau v. Nichols

Lau v. Nichols is a very important court case that happened many years ago in America. It was about making sure that all students, no matter what language they speak, can understand what their teachers are saying and learn properly in school.

You know how when you are in school, your teacher talks to you, and you can understand them because you both speak the same language, right? But imagine if you go to a school where everyone speaks a different language, and your teacher only speaks English or Chinese, but you don't know these languages very well. What do you do then?

Well, in the past, many schools in America did not pay a lot of attention to children who spoke a different language. These children were not given any extra help to understand what their teachers were saying or to learn in their own language.

But, in 1974, a boy named San Francisco Chinese-American, Kao-Wei Chiu Lau, and a group of Chinese families decided to take their case to the Supreme Court so that the schools would have to help children who struggled with English.

They argued that if schools did not help these students, it would be unfair, and they wouldn't be able to learn like other kids. The court agreed and made it a law that schools had to make sure that all students could understand what was being taught in school, no matter what language they spoke at home.

This decision was significant because it meant that schools had to provide extra support to children who spoke a different language, like having special teachers or providing materials in their own language. This made it easier for these students to learn and helped them succeed in school.

So, in short, Lau v. Nichols was a court case that made sure that all students, no matter what language they spoke, could learn properly in school. It was an essential step towards providing equal opportunities and access to education for all children in America.