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

Arizona's HB1108 would censor books and ethnic studies courses

The Arizona Republic published an editorial against HB1108. But as we know in Houston, a newspaper's opinion generally doesn't influence public policy (remember when the Houston Chronicle and just about all the major U.S. papers endorsed the DREAM ACT?)

Some supporters of Arizona's HB 1108 have been using the word "sedition." Of course they didn't see themselves as committing an act of sedition - that would be placed on the immigrants and their teachers who encourage diversity, which is a bad word these days.


[The Arizona]" legislature is considering a bill that would ban public-school classes that "overtly encourage dissent." As a throw-in, the bill would also ban university organizations that appeal to memberships "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria."

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Editorial, 04/20: Politics in classroom
The Arizona Republic



The board of the Tucson Unified School District - on a bender of indulging its taste for political activism - has invited the wrath of the state Legislature. One does reap what one sows, it seems.

Led by Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, the Legislature is considering a bill that would ban public-school classes that "overtly encourage dissent." As a throw-in, the bill would also ban university organizations that appeal to memberships "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria."

House Bill 1108 is a response to a controversy earlier this year about elements of the Tucson district's ethnic-studies program that celebrates Marxist revolutionaries and characterizes the U.S. as an oppressive nation.

It is, on the whole, a lousy piece of legislation that intrudes, foremost, on the principle of local control of education. Yes, a much-abused notion in these days of the federal No Child Left Behind act. But it remains one that must be defended. Even on behalf of revolution-spouting activist "educators."

If Tucson voters are happy with embittering some of their best students with race-based grievance-mongering and with raising up Che Guevara and Fidel Castro as role models, then it is their choice. It is an expression of their values.

The district's $2.6 million program, especially its "raza studies" component, oozes anti-U.S. bitterness, celebrates Marxist politics and raises up perceived ethnic slights as intentional acts of oppression.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has done a terrific job of bringing the program's materials to light, including texts such as Occupied America. And numerous TUSD teachers and staff have stepped forward, telling of the bullying and intimidation with which the program's staff appear quite comfortable.

According to the program's director, Augustine Romero, the instructors are all acknowledged "progressives" who perceive virtually all interpretations of American history other than their own to be the handiwork of "ultra-conservatives."

"The concern (of critics) is that it's not their political orientation being taught," Romero said. "To sit here and say teachers don't walk into a classroom with a political orientation, well, that's the furthest thing from the truth."

Romero and his instructors ascribe, religiously, to practices espoused by Marxist- education theorist Paolo Friere, author of The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which decries traditional education methods as a dehumanizing conspiracy of evil capitalists bent on subjugating the masses.

But responding to such political cant with a state law prohibiting curricula that "overtly encourage dissent" - as HB 1108 would - simply layers politics upon politics. It is likely to smother all history and social-studies instruction with subjective mandates.

TUSD parents certainly can - and should - question their school board about the program. And they may have questions about the constitutionality of such an overtly political program.

The Arizona Constitution, in Article 11, Section 7, forbids a "political test or qualification" for hiring instructors as well as for enrolling students. Romero's raza-studies program - taught by "progressive" teachers - might have some issues with that provision.

Tucson's ethnic-studies programs clearly turn the well-intended social balms of multiculturalism and diversity on their heads. But laws passed down Tucson's way from Phoenix are not about to set them right.