Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies in Public Schools

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill Tuesday banning ethnic studies in public schools, less than a month after she signed an immigration bill requiring police officers to ask for proof of residency papers from anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.


Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a
bill banning ethnic studies in schools.

May 12, 2010

The law, which takes effect Dec. 31, bans classes that are designed for a particular ethnic group, promote overthrow of the U.S. government, foster resentment toward a particular race or class, or "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said the bill was written to target a Mexican-American studies program in the Tucson school system, according to the Los Angeles Times. The 14-year-old program offers courses in standard topics like literature and history, but with an emphasis on Latino authors or history. It also has specialized courses with African-American and Native American emphasis.

Approximately 2 percent of the Tucson Unified School District's 55,000 students are enrolled in the program. Sean Arce, who runs the Tucson program, said that students do better in school when presented with material that includes people who look like them. "It's a highly engaging program that we have, and it's unfortunate that the state Legislature would go so far as to censor these classes," he said, according to The Associated Press.

But Horne, who is running for attorney general, says the program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people. "It's just like the old South, and it's long past time that we prohibited it," Horne told the AP.

The bill leaves it up to the state Board of Education or superintendent to decide whether a school violates the law. A school that does not comply could lose 10 percent of its state aid each month, and school districts can appeal the finding.

Source: AOL News

 

Wow.:smt009

 

Are you surprised? This is the same state that bans Martine Luther king day

 

Did you read the article?

The law, which takes effect Dec. 31, bans classes that are designed for a particular ethnic group, promote overthrow of the U.S. government, foster resentment toward a particular race or class, or "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."


I agree with this banning. I don't want another civil war or people haiting me because of my race or people not integrating into the american way.

 

Maybe we are reading it differently, but to my grammar:

...Means that they will ban classes that meet *ANY* of the specifications listed above. Meaning that any and all classes that are designed for a particular ethnic group will be banned. And any and all classes that advocate ethnic solidarity will be banned. Etc.

So, for instance, African American history classes -- gone. That's what it sounds like to me.

 

CNN is calling it an "ethnic studies ban".

 

lippy is in complete shock over what is happening in arizonia...phoenix is the 5th largest city in the usa...this state is densely populated with retirement age republicans...the good news is that if we can get them all to move to the same state maybe we can just build a big bubble over it for them all to live in...the only problem is that we would be protecting them from the sun and we have a better chance of attrition if they all get skin cancer

 

The author of the bill, Tom Horne, the state superintendent of public instruction, is running for the Republican nomination for state attorney general. He told local media that his target is the Mexican-American studies curriculum in Tucson public schools. The bill however applies to all public and charter schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. State money will be cut from schools or districts found to have violated the bill.

The legislation DOES NOT BAN ALL ETHNIC STUDIES.

It bans studies or classes that promote separateness and racial division.

 

Greta Van Susteren, of Fox News, probably the most friendly source for this story imaginable, describes the law as this:

That describes more classes than just those "that promote separateness and racial division."

 

well no. African American history will be allowed since it is a history class. The same about mexican-american history. The thing is that the article got to change the words from the bill. I don't know why they didn't just copy and paste. Hopefully that is the source.

http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument...mary/h.hb2281_03-18-10_houseengrossed.doc.htm

Prohibits a school district or charter school from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that:
Ø Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
Ø Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
Ø Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
Ø Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.
In the provision, you can't make a class targeted at african american students but you can make a class about the history of african americans. Problem is in who gets to decide on what is targeted and what isn't. I agree with the bill but have issues with how they are going to decide which class is targeted and which is not.

 

When I took African American History class in high school, I was the only White person there. There weren't any White people in the class the year before or the year after I took it -- aside from me, the classroom was 100% African American. Couldn't someone claim that the class was targeting African Americans? Much of the documentaries and books that we read advocated ethnic solidarity, where does that line get drawn. Would the autobiography of Malcolm X be allowed to be taught?

 

I don't think they should be able to call that targeted. Whoever is interested in the class joins it. You have to(and they will have to) look at what the rubric of the class is. I can't go around teaching a class about how all germans are bad people if I am jewish disguided as the holocaust. That's what the law is about. Malcolm X's history can be taught without targeting african american pupils. The Malcolm X movie is a good example. It shows some what what he went through without saying to hate white people. It invokes a sense of sympathy of what the man went through and why he started to hate so much as well as showing him understanding that we need to work together no matter what the race. You can't make a class on him just to say look at what white people do. They chain our people to train tracks and kill them. They are evil.

 

The movie may not say "hate White people", but there's a heck of a lot of White people who think that his actual book does. Should it not be assigned? Or should the teacher simply instruct the students to skip certain parts?

 

I can't say yes or no because I have not read the book. A heck of a lot of white people don't want history about Thomas Jefferson owning slaves or how he put his own children into slavery. It is what it is. You can't just skip over history because it makes someone look bad. If you teach about Malcolm's biography without teaching hate then I don't see why it is a big problem. Were you offended by the book when you read it?

 

No. But I'm not the type of person who is liable to be making decisions about which of these classes need to be banned, and I suspect that those who are would be offended by the book. It is already banned in a number of school districts, and I think this law could conceivably allow the state to ban classes that taught it.

 

That's the thing. You can vote or put people in to decide what is good and what isn't. This law also stops someone from bringing in books that are racist.
Look up Mein Kampf by adolf hitler. That book is completely racist. The law prevents it from being used in a class.

 

That's unfortunate. I don't think any books should be banned. If we don't learn about history, even the awful parts, we're doomed to repeat it.

 

How to build a nuclear bomb is not a book you want in the public.
You have to be careful how you say this. Some books should not be banned. Physicist have worked hard to keep out nuclear physics in physics classes with calculus. You don't want someone building a nuke. You also have people that are easily influenced. You don't want them reading my struggle by adolf hitler. They might actually believe in that crap.

 

I'm curious, what made you interested? Why did you care about this?