Thread: Arizona Educators Clash Over Mexican American Studies

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 6540.story



Arizona educators clash over Mexican American studies

A new Arizona law aims to ban ethnic studies classes deemed to be divisive, and the state's schools superintendent says Tucson's program is in violation. Teachers and students are fighting back.


Evon Moreira, a senior at Tucson High Magnet School, protests with fellow students and faculty against a law that is being cited in an attempt to ban the Mexican American studies program in the Tucson school district. (James S. Wood / November 19, 2011)

By Stephen Ceasar, Los Angeles Times
November 20, 2011
Reporting from Tucson—

Arizona's public schools chief had heard unsettling reports about what was being taught in the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American studies program and decided to see for himself.

As he sat in on a Chicano literature class, Supt. John Huppenthal noticed an image of Che Guevera hanging on a wall and listened to a lecturer cast Benjamin Franklin as a racist.

And though teacher Curtis Acosta did not directly portray Mexican Americans as an oppressed minority, he discussed educational theorist Paulo Freire and his "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," which the Tucson High Magnet School students used as a textbook. To Huppenthal, the message was clear and disturbing.

"These kids got it," he said. "They understood the framework that was being laid out — that Hispanics are the oppressed and Caucasians are the oppressors. That's very troubling."

A state law adopted this year aims to outlaw divisive ethnic studies, and Huppenthal will soon decide whether the Tucson district's program violates the law and should be eliminated. In a state known for cultural clashes, the debate over the future of Mexican American studies in Tucson is particularly charged, prompting raucous protests and a host of accusations — of brainwashing, of sloppy academics, of racism.

Program proponents say the classes push Latino students to excel and teach a long-neglected slice of America's cultural heritage — Chicano perspectives on literature, history and social justice.

Its critics — led by Huppenthal, a veteran state senator elected superintendent of public instruction last year — say that framing historical events in racial terms "to create a sense of solidarity" promotes groupthink and victimhood. "It has a very toxic effect, and we think it's just not tolerable in an educational setting," Huppenthal said.

For many Latinos, the controversy is not only about the program. It's about identity — and the feeling that Arizona is trying to rein in the burgeoning social and political influence of Latinos in the state. Last year the state passed the controversial illegal immigration law SB 1070, which includes a provision that requires police to determine the immigration status of people they lawfully stop and whom they suspect to be in the country illegally. That portion of the law has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

For nearly a decade, teachers could be removed from the classroom if their English was too heavily accented — a practice Huppenthal ended this year after federal authorities launched a civil rights investigation.

"The academic success of our students is a threat, a danger to the status quo," said Lorenzo Lopez, a Mexican American studies teacher at Cholla High Magnet School in Tucson. "There is empirical data that shows the academic success — the matriculation onto higher education, higher standardized test scores, higher graduation rates. Those successes are why we're being singled out."

Huppenthal deemed the Tucson program in violation of the law in June. The school district appealed the ruling, and testimony before an administrative law judge overseeing the appeal concluded last month. The judge will make a recommendation on the legality of the program, but Huppenthal still has the final say, which means the chief impact of the recommendation may be in setting the stage for later legal action.

In a separate case, 11 teachers and two students from the school district have sued, contending that the law is unconstitutional. Last week they asked for an injunction to halt the law's implementation.

The push against Mexican American studies in Tucson can be traced to 2006, when activist Dolores Huerta told students at Tucson High Magnet School that "Republicans hate Latinos." Tom Horne, then the state's schools superintendent, sought to counter the message by sending his deputy, Margaret Garcia Dugan, a Latina Republican, to address the students.

When she began speaking, some students stood, turned their backs and lifted clenched fists in the air. Some covered their mouths with tape. Some walked out.

Horne responded with an open letter to the citizens of Tucson: "I believe the students did not learn this rudeness at home, but from their Raza teachers."

Horne, who is now attorney general, helped craft the law targeting the program. It does not ban all forms of ethnically based courses in Arizona public schools. The law was designed, in effect, to target what critics say are hallmarks of Mexican American studies classes offered to junior and high school students in the Tucson district.

Among other things, the law bans classes primarily designed for a particular ethnic group or that "promote resentment toward a race or class of people." Defenders of the courses say they do no such thing.

Not long after Huppenthal took office in January, he commissioned a $110,000 audit of the program. To the surprise and relief of the program's defenders, the audit concluded that the program complied with the law and that "students are taught to be accepting of multiple ethnicities of people."

Huppenthal rejected the audit. "When you're being watched, you don't do the things that are inappropriate," he said.

If they are so adamant about getting their "RAZA" studies they should go on back to Messico and learn it first hand, up close and personal!

first of all you are not American Citizen 2
but the sign down you are not going to win we are going to
fight every one of you illegal Immigrants & you we will win this for one our country you don't do this in your Country ?
I don't think so ( Honk 4 american ) this is for all of the Teacher
In every state don't for get this is your Country also Not Mexico
or any other Country the good old USA so if you don't like the
way our School run well you all can get out . this is life
Our life so wake the hell up or better still get your head Out Of the sand
you should see what NYC school look Like a mess they sound
like baby chick it not funny
No amnesty or dream act