Anti-American teachings in Tucson

The following article is a two part story appearing on azcentral.com, written by Doug MacEachern, columnist. It chronicles an ethnic studies program implemented at a Tucson Arizona high school. You can judge for yourself the merits of such a program. (The article is presented in it's entirety.) Part 1, Part 2

Secretive raza studies in Tucson district need close look

They don't teach much about history these days in public schools. But in some school districts, like the Tucson Unified School District, they do emphasize a certain sort of history.

It's a history program that its critics, some of whom with firsthand knowledge of how it is taught, contend often dwells on bitterness and exclusion. On oppression and unfairness. And on a sort of tribalism that often teaches that the American system is rigged against Hispanics and, likely, other minorities.

And one other thing. It's a history program whose zealous advocates object to "outsiders" knowing much about it. You get your knuckles rapped hard in Tucson just for asking questions about what this program is all about. advertisement

In November, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne asked officials at TUSD for information about its ethnic-studies program, an elective curriculum that, according to its director, serves about 1,700 students daily in TUSD high schools and middle schools.

Horne is no fan of minority-studies programs. As a school-board member in Paradise Valley some years ago, he helped block a women's-studies program there. Of ethnic-studies programs specifically, Horne said they "promote ethnic chauvinism."

"They're against all that America stands for," he told me.

So, is that clear enough? Horne dislikes public-school programs that promote grievance and separation.

But when Horne asked the Tucson district in November for information about the program, he wasn't looking to shut it down. He wanted to know about it. He wanted to have a look at the prescribed reading materials, the teacher manuals and the course syllabi. He wanted to know what the program, also known as raza studies, was all about. And he asked the district to forward the information to him.

Now, whatever one thinks of Tom Horne - and, heaven knows, he has his critics - he is the elected superintendent of public education in Arizona. In the hierarchy of pubic education, that may not mean he can dictate to school districts what their various elective programs can or cannot include. Those decisions usually are left to school districts. Like TUSD.

But is it unreasonable that the state superintendent of public instruction know about those programs? It strikes me that a lot of people would think Horne remiss if he didn't know what public schools are teaching their students.

But in Tucson, Horne was told, quite explicitly, to "butt out." He was told it was none of his business what raza-studies teachers were imparting to 1,700 public-school students every school day.

About a week after Horne made his request - and well before the district complied with it - the super's Freedom of Information Act request became a Tucson news story.

The local newspapers loosed a full-throated declaration that Horne has no business knowing anything about the Mexican-American/Raza Studies Department, the program's official title.

Said one Tucson newspaper in an editorial published Nov. 26: "Memo to Tom Horne: Butt out."

Said another local paper, also in an editorial: "Horne has overstepped by asking for information about the (TUSD's) ethnic-studies programs."

Overstepped by . . . asking for information?

Now, I've known a lot of political buttinskies in my time. Such people, generally, are busybodies who have no particular mandate regarding the subject that obsesses them. Nor any special insight into it. How the state superintendent of public instruction qualifies as a buttinsky regarding the curricula of an Arizona public school district mystifies me.

The district and its media allies are confusing, perhaps intentionally, knowledge with control. They point out, correctly, that the district is governed by its own elected board and that Horne has no authority to dictate what elective programs it offers. What Horne does have is a bully pulpit. And it is that pulpit which so terrifies the ethnic-studies advocates.

One of the editorials noted that the raza-studies program is "clearly what TUSD's kids, parents and educators want." Is it? How can anything about the program be "clear" if the district is so secretive about the content and delivery of its program that it resents the state superintendent knowing about it?

Since Horne's request made Tucson headlines, a number of people with firsthand knowledge of the district's program have stepped forward.

In an op-ed published in the Arizona Daily Star on Dec. 5, Horne noted one of them, an English teacher at Tucson's Cholla High School, who, according to Horne, was denigrated as "the White man's agent" when he dared to criticize elements of the raza studies. Very academic and supportive program, this one.

There are others who have stepped forward to say the things that TUSD and its allies would rather not be said. I'll write about them soon.

Ethnic Studies program at Tucson High School, Part II

For the activists of the Ethnic Studies program at Tucson High School, history teacher John Ward seemed like a useful tool.

He was a certified teacher with a good academic record. He already had taught numerous social-studies courses, including Mexican-American history, by the start of the 2002-03 school year.

And, despite his Anglo-sounding name, Ward is Hispanic. That was valuable to them, too.

The school administration asked Ward to teach a class in conjunction with the Tucson Unified School District's nascent Ethnic Studies program, which recently had set up a pilot project at Tucson High. As he understood it at first, Ward would be the "teacher of record," while facilitators from the Ethnic Studies group would make presentations. But that's not exactly how the class turned out.

"I was told it would be a standard history class with a Mexican-American influence," said Ward, who no longer teaches. "But the whole inference and tone was anger. (They taught students) that the United States was and still is a fundamentally racist country in nature, whose interests are contrary to those of Mexican-American kids.

"Individuals in this (Ethnic Studies) department are vehemently anti-Western culture. They are vehemently opposed to the United States and its power. They are telling students they are victims and that they should be angry and rise up."

Ward is still an important and valuable guy, even though he left teaching in 2003.

He is important and valuable because he has witnessed, firsthand, the caustic nature of a program that, according to its advocates, is purely academic in nature while being supportive of TUSD's growing body of Hispanic students.

And he is important because he is brave.

I have interviewed several other employees of TUSD in recent weeks, all of whom have witnessed the program firsthand or who have discussed the Ethnic Studies program with students taking it. None of them would speak on the record. All asked that their names not be used and that any chronicle of their experiences not include details that could be traced back to them.

They are fearful. And for good reason.

"There's a lot of people who know this problem is occurring," one TUSD employee said. "They won't do anything for two reasons. One, they know (the program) is so much bigger than they are. And, two, you're going to be called a racist."

Despite his heritage, Ward said he was accused of racism after complaining to Tucson High administration about being used as a "teacher of record" in behalf of the program known generally as "raza studies."

"I began to voice these concerns internally," Ward said, "to teachers. The situation then went immediately from bad to worse. I was told I was racist."

The Ethnic Studies department, he said, took their complaints about Ward to the TUSD school board.

A compromise was reached. Ward said he was removed from the class entirely in March 2003 and reassigned to assist another teacher in a traditional social-studies class. But the experience, especially the changes he saw in the students in the class, was seared into him.

"By the time I left that class, I saw a change (in the students)," he said. "An angry tone. They taught them not to trust their teachers, not to trust the system. They taught them the system wasn't worth trusting."

TUSD's Ethnic Studies program first became an issue last fall when Arizona's superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horne, asked the district about it. He requested the books and other teaching materials used in the program.

District officials objected to Horne's interest, suggesting the state's highest elected official in charge of public education had no right to examine course materials used in a public-school curriculum. They went to the Tucson newspapers, which, in no uncertain terms, told Horne in editorials to "butt out."

In Tucson news stories, program director Augustine Romero defended the program. He said students taking raza studies courses perform better on standardized tests than most students. He said the program, which includes about 1,700 TUSD students, helps the students develop a better sense of self-worth.

After several weeks, the district finally sent the materials to Horne. As expected, Horne was not impressed.

They included texts titled Occupied America and The Pedagogy of Oppression. Another text, he said, "gloats over the difficulties our country is having at enforcing its immigration laws."

"Most of these students' parents or grandparents came to this country legally because it is the land of opportunity," he said. "They trust our public schools with their children. We should be teaching the students that this is the land of opportunity; they can achieve their ambitions if they work hard.

"They should not be taught that this is the land of oppression."