A response to Arizona's HB 1108

Michel Foucault - this is the expression he might have if he knew about HB 1108 in Arizona


Being alarmed at the introduction of HB 1108 in Arizona is probably putting things mildly.

The legislator sponsoring the bill used the phrase "inculcate values of American citizenship." It makes me wonder if he has read Michel Foucault. This French philosopher/historian whose work is now an intregal part of graduate school curriculum (in the liberal arts), has a nifty book titled Discipline and Punish' where he rates prisons and schools in the same category - their purpose is to control and create order. Schools are not places acquire knowledge, they are where students are taught how to be good citizens.

The definition of a good citizen (in the U.S.) these days has become much more narrow and selective. It has gone way past "love of country." It is now like the people Foucault talks about - those who think the same, dress the same, and act the same.


Southeast Valley Letters Blog
Arizona Republic
April 22, 2008

Pearce needs to open his mind

I was alarmed by the excerpt from Rep. Russell Pearce's Senate Bill 1108: “A primary purpose of public education is to inculcate values of American citizenship. Public tax dollars used in public schools should not be used to denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization.”

I think I am part of a vast majority who believe instead that the primary purpose and over-arching ideal of education is — or should be — to open minds, to breed curiosity, to develop habits of critical thinking, and to lay the groundwork for a lifetime of learning. This can only be accomplished by exposing students to our world in all its complexity and diversity, and to the contradictory systems of thought and culture, which have shaped history and which are at odds currently.

In an open and unbiased way our schools must present not only as much information as possible, but guidance in how to analyze and interpret the material, how to put issues in perspective, in order that students arrive at their own conclusions and judgments. The job of education is not to serve up answers, but to pose questions, to open lines of inquiry, not to close them.

The protectionist posture and chauvinist intent of Pearce's bill suggest he's afraid of something. Why does he believe we need to directly indoctrinate our students with American values and censor whole areas of knowledge that reflect other views?

If the American way is good, even superior, then it should stand up well in comparative studies of values and civilizations. There are billions of people on the Earth, and they think and live and do things differently from one another.

To welcome the learning process about other peoples who do not share our commonly held beliefs implies no endorsement of their ways, nor denigration of our own; it is simply a necessary step to understanding the world and our place in it.

Mr. Pearce, open your umbrella! You know the saying: A mind is like an umbrella, no good unless it's open.

— Julene R. Dutton, Chandler