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<h2><font size=5 color="#FF0000"><b>2 articles follow<br><br>
</i></font>Students Step Up Tucson Walkouts<br><br>
</b></h2><h3><b>Protest School District Folly and Mexican American
Studies Banishment</b></h3><font size=3>by
<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/jeff-biggers">Jeff Biggers</a><br>
<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/24-2" eudora="autourl">
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/24-2<br><br>
</a>As the
<a href="http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/22/how-tucson-schools-changed-after-mexican-american-studies-ban/?hpt=hp_c4">
nation</a> 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
<a href="http://azstarnet.com/news/local/neto-s-tucson-mex-american-studies-teachers-students-are-left/article_b20814cf-c212-5bbf-aa29-34a21bd681c9.html">
banishment</a> of the district’s acclaimed Mexican American Studies
program.<br><br>
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
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/01/18/tucson_says_banished_books_may_return_to_classrooms/">
conflicting </a>and
<a href="http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2012/01/22/mark-stegeman-constituent-letter-needs-some-clarification/">
inaccurate</a> statements and carried out the extreme actions of
<a href="http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/22/video-mexican-lies-and-videotape/">
confiscating books</a> in front of children. Last week, a recently hired
assistant superintendent from Texas made
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQv3tm6um0w&feature=related">
a troubing call </a>for the deeply rooted Tucson students–many of whom
trace their ancestors to the town founders– to “go to Mexico” to study
their history.<br><br>
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
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/opinion/sunday/rejected-in-tucson.html?_r=1">
editorial</a> in the<i> New York Times</i> on Sunday, because “it was
blackmailed into doing so.”<br><br>
The <i>New York Times</i> 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
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/profiles-in-courage-on-fr_b_927726.html">
nationally acclaimed program</a> immediately.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
Less than two months away from the
anniversary<a href="http://www.cesarchavezholiday.org/"> celebration of
Arizona native and United Farm Worker leader Cesar Chavez,</a> 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.”<br><br>
Known as the “Sheriff Arpaio of Ethnic Studies,” Arizona education chief
John Huppenthal defended his campaign slogan to “stop la raza” in an
extraordinary<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/18/debating_tucson_school_districts_book_ban">
Democracy Now debate on TV</a> last week. The Tea Party activist
Huppenthal has referred to Mexican American students as
“<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/az-school-chief-compares-_b_985390.html">
Hitler Jugend,</a>” and raised concerns across the nation
about<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/did-arizona-education-chi_b_879584.html">
possible criminal behavior </a>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.<br><br>
State Rep. Sally Gonzales introduced
<a href="http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/19/rep-sally-gonzales-introduces-hb2654-to-repeal-ethnic-studies-ban-in-arizona/">
a bill to repeal</a> the Ethnic Studies crackdown last week. A similar
bill to repeal Arizona’s notorious SB 1070 immigration law was also being
introduced.<br><br>
Instead of surrendering to Huppenthal’s crackdown, many community leaders
in Tucson called on the Tucson Unified School District board to join a
federal
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/ethnic-studies-emergency-_b_1095869.html">
court suit </a>against the state and summon the Civil Rights Division of
the Department of Justice to follow up their investigation of
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/sheriff_joe_takes_another_hit/singleton">
Arpaio </a>and investigate Huppenthal for racial profiling, hate crimes,
fraud and even extortion.<br><br>
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
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/invoking-violent-imagery-_b_957407.html">
invoked violent</a> imagery and pathologically
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/precious-knowledge-arizona_b_875702.html">
singled out</a> only Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program.<br><br>
<br>
Jeff Biggers is the author of
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1593761511?tag=commondreams-20/ref=nosim">
The United States of Appalachia</a>, and more recently,
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568584210?tag=commondreams-20/ref=nosim">
Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland</a>
(The Nation/Basic Books).<br>
*******************************************************************<br>
</font><h3><b>Arizona high schools may soon offer Bible
classes</b></h3><font size=1><b>
<a href="http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2012/01/23/arizona-high-schools-may-soon-offer-bible-classes/" eudora="autourl">
http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2012/01/23/arizona-high-schools-may-soon-offer-bible-classes/<br>
<br>
</a></b></font><font size=2>by
<a href="http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/author/alia-beard-rau/">
Alia Beard Rau</a> on Jan. 23, 2012, under
<a href="http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/category/arizona-republic-news/">
Arizona Republic News<br><br>
</a></font><font size=3>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
Her legislation, she said, makes it clear that teachers can teach the
Bible “in a very restricted way.”<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
The course must follow state and federal law in maintaining religious
neutrality and accommodating diverse religious views. Course credits must
count toward graduation.<br><br>
“The regulations are very specific,” Proud said. “We don’t want anybody
to go rogue on this topic.”<br><br>
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.<br><br>
“To deny that the Bible has had a substantial influence on our culture,
our laws and our<br>
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.”<br><br>
Doug Kilgore with the Arizona Education Association disagrees, calling it
a solution in search of a problem.<br><br>
“Teachers, as long as they are even-handed, can already include the Bible
in their curriculum,” he said.<br><br>
But he said he questions the constitutionality of specifically allowing a
course on the Bible without addressing other religious texts.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
“These types of classes sound good in theory, but in practicality they
can be very difficult to pull off,” Boston said.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Boston also suggested lawmakers need to think carefully about whether
they really want what they are asking for.<br><br>
“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?”<br><br>
Both bills have been assigned to the House Education Committee but do not
yet have a hearing date.<br><br>
</font><font size=2>This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2012
at 10:13 pm and is filed under
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