Rightfully ignoring the advice of the UN human rights experts--who, by the way, just elected seven countries accused of human rights violations to sit on the commission--Gov. Brewer signed a bill pushed by state schools chief Tom Horne:
[Horne] believes the Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people.Public schools should not be encouraging students to resent a particular race, he said.
But if public schools don't teach about how awful and oppressive whites are, what will they teach?
The measure signed Tuesday prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group.
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.
As a plain, old American, I feel downright left out.
Just, wow. When did our public schools turn into recruitment centers for La Raza?Sean Arce, director of the district’s Mexican-American Studies program, said last month that students perform better in school if they see in the curriculum people who look like them.
Update: Sweetness & Light has done a little digging
Completely innocent, right? Well done, Gov. Brewer!Mexican American StudiesSocial Justice Education ProjectThe Social Justice Education Project has fostered the development of the department’s Critically Compassionate Intellectualism. For more information, see the Mexican American Studies Model.
Through the unification of elements within this model, the department engages in the following pursuits:
* Advocate for and provide culturally relevant curriculum for grades K-12.
* Advocate for and provide curriculum that is centered within the pursuit of social justice.
* Advocate for and provide curriculum that is centered within the Mexican American/Chicano cultural and historical experience.
* Work towards the invoking of a critical consciousness within each and every student.
* Provide and promote teacher education that is centered within Critical Pedagogy, Latino Critical Race Pedagogy, and Authentic Caring.
* Promote and advocate for social and educational transformation.
* Promote and advocate for the demonstration of respect, understanding, appreciation, inclusion, and love at every level of service.
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