[News] Students Step Up Tucson Walkouts - Arizona high schools may soon offer Bible classes

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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Students Step Up Tucson Walkouts



Protest School District Folly and Mexican American Studies Banishment

by <http://www.commondreams.org/jeff-biggers>Jeff Biggers
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/24-2

As the 
<http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/22/how-tucson-schools-changed-after-mexican-american-studies-ban/?hpt=hp_c4>nation 
watches the Tucson Unified School District’s 
spiral into disarray, hundreds of students walked 
out of their Tucson schools Monday in a 
coordinated protest against the 
<http://azstarnet.com/news/local/neto-s-tucson-mex-american-studies-teachers-students-are-left/article_b20814cf-c212-5bbf-aa29-34a21bd681c9.html>banishment 
of the district’s acclaimed Mexican American Studies program.

Pouring into the downtown Tucson area from 
Pueblo, Cholla and Tucson high schools, among 
other institutions, the students brought their 
march to the offices of floundering Tucson 
Unified School District (TUSD) administrators. In 
recent days, administrators and board members 
have issued a series of 
<http://www.salon.com/2012/01/18/tucson_says_banished_books_may_return_to_classrooms/>conflicting 
and 
<http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2012/01/22/mark-stegeman-constituent-letter-needs-some-clarification/>inaccurate 
statements and carried out the extreme actions of 
<http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/22/video-mexican-lies-and-videotape/>confiscating 
books in front of children. Last week, a recently 
hired assistant superintendent from Texas made 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQv3tm6um0w&feature=related>a 
troubing call for the deeply rooted Tucson 
students–many of whom trace their ancestors to 
the town founders– to “go to Mexico” to study their history.

In a district with over 60 percent of the 
students coming from Mexican American 
backgrounds, the TUSD board “dismantled its 
Mexican-American studies program, packed away its 
offending books, shuttled its students into other 
classes,” according to an 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/opinion/sunday/rejected-in-tucson.html?_r=1>editorial 
in the New York Times on Sunday, because “it was blackmailed into doing so.”

The New York Times referred to the extremist 
measures of Arizona state superintendent of 
public instruction John Huppenthal on January 
10th, who threatened to withhold millions of 
dollars if TUSD didn’t terminate the 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/profiles-in-courage-on-fr_b_927726.html>nationally 
acclaimed program immediately.

As her Tucson school district prepares to 
celebrate the 140th anniversary of its founding 
by Mexican American immigrant Estevan Ochoa, 
Cholla High School student Ahtziri Iñiguez noted 
that she was following the march in the footsteps 
of her brother, a graduate of the Mexican American Studies Program.

“I think it’s very unfair that people here don’t 
let us learn about our own culture,” she said. 
“My brother took (Mexican American Studies) 
classes his junior year and he would go home and 
discuss with my Mom and interested me in 
education, so I knew I wanted to take these classes.”

Less than two months away from the 
anniversary<http://www.cesarchavezholiday.org/> 
celebration of Arizona native and United Farm 
Worker leader Cesar Chavez, Iñiguez added: “We 
did this walk out to prove if you want something 
you should fight for what you believe in, because 
if you don’t do anything, nothing will change.”

Known as the “Sheriff Arpaio of Ethnic Studies,” 
Arizona education chief John Huppenthal defended 
his campaign slogan to “stop la raza” in an 
extraordinary<http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/18/debating_tucson_school_districts_book_ban> 
Democracy Now debate on TV last week. The Tea 
Party activist Huppenthal has referred to Mexican 
American students as 
“<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/az-school-chief-compares-_b_985390.html>Hitler 
Jugend,” and raised concerns across the nation 
about<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/did-arizona-education-chi_b_879584.html> 
possible criminal behavior last summer when he 
openly misrepresented the results of an 
independent audit that praised the Mexican 
American Studies program and found it in 
compliance with Arizona’s bizarre Ethnic Studies law.

State Rep. Sally Gonzales introduced 
<http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/19/rep-sally-gonzales-introduces-hb2654-to-repeal-ethnic-studies-ban-in-arizona/>a 
bill to repeal the Ethnic Studies crackdown last 
week. A similar bill to repeal Arizona’s 
notorious SB 1070 immigration law was also being introduced.

Instead of surrendering to Huppenthal’s 
crackdown, many community leaders in Tucson 
called on the Tucson Unified School District 
board to join a federal 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/ethnic-studies-emergency-_b_1095869.html>court 
suit against the state and summon the Civil 
Rights Division of the Department of Justice to 
follow up their investigation of 
<http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/sheriff_joe_takes_another_hit/singleton>Arpaio 
and investigate Huppenthal for racial profiling, 
hate crimes, fraud and even extortion.

Last month, when the DOJ charged Arpaio with 
“chronic culture of disregard for basic legal and 
constitutional obligations” and a “widespread 
pattern or practice of
activities that 
discriminate against Latinos,” Tucson supporters 
of Ethnic Studies wonder if similar charges could 
be made for Attorney General Tom Horne and 
Superintendent Huppenthal, who have 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/invoking-violent-imagery-_b_957407.html>invoked 
violent imagery and pathologically 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/precious-knowledge-arizona_b_875702.html>singled 
out only Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program.


Jeff Biggers is the author of 
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1593761511?tag=commondreams-20/ref=nosim>The 
United States of Appalachia, and more recently, 
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568584210?tag=commondreams-20/ref=nosim>Reckoning 
at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the 
Heartland (The Nation/Basic Books).
*******************************************************************

Arizona high schools may soon offer Bible classes

http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2012/01/23/arizona-high-schools-may-soon-offer-bible-classes/

by 
<http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/author/alia-beard-rau/>Alia 
Beard Rau on Jan. 23, 2012, under 
<http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/category/arizona-republic-news/>Arizona 
Republic News

Arizona’s public and charter high-school students 
could soon earn credit for learning about the 
influence of the Old Testament on art or how 
biblical references are found throughout literature.

Rep. Terri Proud, R-Tucson, has proposed 
legislation that would make Arizona the sixth 
state in the nation to allow schools to offer a 
high-school elective course on the Bible. 
Currently, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, South 
Carolina and Oklahoma have laws allowing such classes.

State law currently doesn’t ban the use of the 
Bible, or any other religious document, as part 
of a public-school class curriculum as long as it 
is for academic purposes and does not involve 
sectarian ideas or religious devotion. But Proud 
said teachers and school districts are still 
often afraid to even discuss religion in their classrooms.

“There is this false perception that separation 
of church means absolutely no religion in school, 
that the Bible is not allowed,” Proud said. “That is absolutely not true.”

Her legislation, she said, makes it clear that 
teachers can teach the Bible “in a very restricted way.”

“A lot of it has to do with debunking a lot of 
ignorance that our districts are trying to force 
upon the teachers,” she said. “There are people 
out there who hate the Bible and everything about 
it. That’s fine, but don’t deprive our children 
of biblical literature because of your personal feelings.”

House Bill 2473 would allow public and charter 
high schools to offer an elective course on the 
“critical evaluation and examination of the Bible 
as a literary work” starting June30, 2013.

HB 2563 would require the State Board of 
Education to determine the requirements for a 
high-school course called “The Bible and its 
Influence on Western Culture.” The course must 
include the history, literature and influence of 
the Old and New testaments on laws, history, 
government, literature, art, music customs, morals, values and culture.

The course must follow state and federal law in 
maintaining religious neutrality and 
accommodating diverse religious views. Course 
credits must count toward graduation.

“The regulations are very specific,” Proud said. 
“We don’t want anybody to go rogue on this topic.”

Marc Victor, a Chandler attorney who has 
represented groups including the Freedom from 
Religion Foundation in 
separation-of-church-and-state issues, said he 
has no problem with the legislation.

“To deny that the Bible has had a substantial 
influence on our culture, our laws and our
ethics would be ridiculous,” Victor said. “If 
it’s done in an intellectually honest, non-biased 
way for educational purposes, it’s a great idea.”

Doug Kilgore with the Arizona Education 
Association disagrees, calling it a solution in search of a problem.

“Teachers, as long as they are even-handed, can 
already include the Bible in their curriculum,” he said.

But he said he questions the constitutionality of 
specifically allowing a course on the Bible 
without addressing other religious texts.

The Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for 
Separation of Church and State has been closely 
monitoring these classes in states that have passed similar legislation.

Senior policy analyst Rob Boston said there is no 
legal problem with laws allowing schools to offer 
such classes on the Bible. But there have been 
problems with some of those doing the teaching.

“These types of classes sound good in theory, but 
in practicality they can be very difficult to pull off,” Boston said.

He said there is rarely any teacher training 
offered for those teaching the course, making it 
challenging for teachers to walk the line between academic and proselytizing.

He said lawmakers typically have more interest in 
these classes than students do. Georgia, which 
has offered the course for several years, has 
seen dwindling interest, Boston said. As a 
result, many districts have stopped offering the course.

Boston also suggested lawmakers need to think 
carefully about whether they really want what they are asking for.

“Many people consider the Bible to be the literal 
rule of God and believe accounts to be history,” 
he said. “But the academic views of the Bible 
usually hold that the Bible is a collection of 
stories and myths. So are teachers supposed to 
ignore the overwhelming majority of scholars and 
give equal billing to a fundamentalist idea?”

Both bills have been assigned to the House 
Education Committee but do not yet have a hearing date.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 
2012 at 10:13 pm and is filed under 
<http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/category/arizona-republic-news/>Arizona 
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