New AZ Law Prohibits Latino Curriculum That Benefits Students
May 12, 2010 3:28 pm ET
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed a new bill into law that specifically targets Latino citizens and residents, prohibiting Arizona school districts from teaching Latino-specific curriculum. However, the Arizona legislature and executive office failed to recognize that students enrolled in the now prohibited courses actually do better in school than their peers.
HB 2281 Takes Aim At Chicano Studies Program In Tucson
New AZ Law Targets Latino Curriculum; Non-Compliant Districts Could Lose 10% Of State Funds. The
Los Angeles Times reported:
A bill that aims to ban ethnic studies in Arizona schools was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Jan Brewer, cheering critics who called such classes divisive and alarming others who said it's yet another law targeting Latinos in the state...
HB 2281 bans schools from teaching classes that are designed for students of a particular ethnic group, promote resentment or advocate ethnic solidarity over treating pupils as individuals. The bill also bans classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.
The bill was written to target the Chicano, or Mexican American, studies program in the Tucson school system, said state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Horne.
School districts that don't comply with the new law could have as much as 10% of their state funds withheld each month. Districts have the right to appeal the mandate, which goes into effect Dec. 31. [
Los Angeles Times,
5/12/10]
From Oregon State University: "Susan Meyers, assistant professor and director of writing in the English department at OSU, and Rick Orozco, an assistant professor in the College of Education at OSU, both earned their Ph.D.s at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. and are intimately familiar with the program that spurred the new law in Arizona. The bill, HB 2281, prevents '. . . courses or classes that either: 1) are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, or 2) advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.' The types of courses that this bill targets are known as ethnic studies courses, a field of study that is commonly offered on many university campuses, including OSU, as well as on increasing numbers of high school campuses. Meyers and Orozco said this specific bill started as a reaction to the Mexican-American Studies Department, also known informally as Raza Studies, in the Tucson Unified School District." [ArticleAnt.com,
5/12/10]
Law Does Have Exceptions For Holocaust & Native American Studies
Ethnic Studies Bill Allows "Teaching Of The Holocaust Or Other Cases Of Genocide." Fox News reported that the Arizona ethnic studies bill "stipulates that courses can continue to be taught for Native American pupils in compliance with federal law and does not prohibit English as a second language classes. It also does not prohibit the teaching of the Holocaust or other cases of genocide." [Fox News,
4/30/10]
Native American Exemption In Law Was Last Minute Addition. According to
The Arizona Republic: "Arizona's schools superintendent Tom Horne is pushing legislation to ban ethnic-studies courses from high schools, specifically the 22 courses offered at four Tucson high schools in history, government, and literature...
At the last minute, Horne added two exceptions to his bill. Native American studies would be exempt because these courses are protected by federal law. Also exempt is any grouping of students based on academic performance, even if most of the students are predominantly from one ethnic background. This would prevent the new mandatory four-hours-a-day language classes for English learners from running afoul of the law." [
The Arizona Republic,
6/12/09, emphasis added]
Ethnic Studies Students Outperform Their Counterparts
Students Enrolled In Raza Studies Program Graduate At Higher Rates Than Their Peers. According to OSU researchers "Meyers and Orozco are concerned about the proposed elimination of programs that have been documented to help student learning and success. The researchers said that
Raza Studies students graduate at rates that are higher than their white peers, and enroll in college at a rate that approaches 70 percent. Raza Studies students also outperform their peers in Arizona's standardized testing. 'Ample scholarship in a variety of disciplines now conclude that rates of student success - particularly among minority students - is positively correlated with culturally relevant and community-minded curriculum,' Orozco said." [ArticleAnt.com,
5/12/10]
Ethnic Studies Courses Increase Students' Test Scores. The Arizona Republic reported: "Students are on waiting lists to get into the [ethnic studies] courses at Tucson and Cholla High Magnet Schools, said Augustine Romero, who heads the district program. Romero also teaches one of the courses, U.S. Government and Social Justice. This course teaches the historic functions of government by tracking the changes in court decisions and legislation that reflect America's changing attitudes toward minorities. Romero said the district supports the courses for good reasons: They connect students to their cultural past and their roles in American history, including students with Native American, Mexican, Asian and African American heritages. They heighten student interest and make the courses relevant to their everyday experience. Data collected since 2002 by the Tucson school district show
students who attend the courses perform better on AIMS, the state's standardized test, than students who do not attend the courses. That fulfills the goal of No Child Left Behind, which is to raise student achievement among minority students." [
The Arizona Republic,
6/12/09, emphasis added]
Tucson Program Included Courses On The Role Of Latinos In American History, Including The Vietnam War. Washington Post education columnist Valerie Strauss wrote:
The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group, the Associated Press reports.
District officials say the program ************SPAM/BANNEAR************ provides historical information. In the Mexican-American Studies program, an American history course explores the role of Hispanics in the Vietnam War, and a literature course emphasizes Latino authors. The kids learn, for example, that Arizona was once part of Mexico, and that in the 1960s Chicano radicals called for reclaiming the land. [
Washington Post,
5/12/10]
–Media Matters Action Network
