signal boosting

[piecesof_reeses]

Hah, so you know how I was like, BYE, SEE YOU GUYS IN A MONTH in my last entry (posted approximately five minutes ago)? I lied!

Because this is super fucking important, and I want to devote a separate entry to the issue because goddammit, it's gotten nearly no national news coverage since the first shocking announcement, and it's so frustrating I could scream. So I'm posting it here, even though my flist is minuscule. IF YOU CAN, PLEASE REPOST.

I posted about this earlier, back when the whole mess began, but here are the quick and dirty facts:

Arizona's state legislature passed a bill (HB 2281, to be exact) that would BAN the teaching of ethnic studies in Arizona's public schools. Their rationale? Basically that it promotes white resentment and privileges those pesky little minorities over the white majority. ("Why isn't there a white studies class? Isn't this reverse discrimination?") Here's an excerpt of the exact text of the bill, which is so ridiculous I can hardly even believe this is actual law, now:

9 A. A SCHOOL DISTRICT OR CHARTER SCHOOL IN THIS STATE SHALL NOT INCLUDE
10 IN ITS PROGRAM OF INSTRUCTION ANY COURSES OR CLASSES THAT INCLUDE ANY OF THE
11 FOLLOWING:
12 1. PROMOTE THE OVERTHROW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
13 2. PROMOTE RESENTMENT TOWARD A RACE OR CLASS OF PEOPLE.
14 3. ARE DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR PUPILS OF A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP.
15 4. ADVOCATE ETHNIC SOLIDARITY INSTEAD OF THE TREATMENT OF PUPILS AS
16 INDIVIDUALS.

That's right. Overthrow of the government. Resentment toward a race. Ethnic solidarity.

And I'm not just defending ethnic studies based purely on principle, although I could. The bigger issue is that these ethnic studies classes bring results. Nowhere else in high school curriculum are you going to find an account of history from the perspective of a minority, information about cultural identity that hasn't been pasteurized specifically for white consumption. And reading those books, learning this knowledge, empowers children of color. Because finally, they're the ones being spotlighted. This information is directly relevant to them, to what they see and hear and experience everyday in their households, from their families.

And as a result, they want to learn. This is a class they actually look forward to attending. There are statistics that show their grades, standardized test scores, graduation rates, the whole enchilada, dramatically increasing after they take an ethnic studies course. It rejuvenates their belief in themselves as individuals by giving them belief in themselves as a collective.

Please, please, please, if you can, donate to this organization:

SaveEthnicStudies.Org



There is much more information on their website, all those statistics and everything that I was talking about. This group NEEDS help to fight the legislation. Their ethnic studies class is due to be forcibly ended by December, but they're going to keep fighting. They'll be coming out with a documentary called Precious Knowledge very soon (which I was privileged enough to see a clip of in my college, and it was fantastic), and I believe PBS has bought it, so it should be screening soon.

Okay. That's it. Again, please repost this so more people learn about the issue. Thank you.

♥

Comments

[chaoticallyclev.livejournal.com]

I HAVE TO TELL YOU, THAT THIS GOES ALONG WITH SOMETHING WE ARE STUDYING IN MY TCE CLASS. ONE OF THE TEACHING METHODS. THAT I FORGET THE NAME OF BECAUSE I ACTIVELY BLOCK THIS CLASS OUT WHEN I'M NOT IN IT. FOR REASONS I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE. BUT. THERE'S AN ASPECT OF IT THAT IS VERY AGAINST MULTICULTURAL STUDIES AS RUINING THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM AND MAKING EVERYONE DUMB. WHICH IS BULLSHIT. BECAUSE THE ANSWER TO THAT IS NOT "NO CULTURAL STUDIES" BUT "MORE CULTURAL STUDIES", SO THEN EVERYONE'S GOT AT LEAST A FOUNDATION OF WHERE OTHER PEOPLE ARE COMING FROM.

ALSO, LOL ARIZONA. ALL CLASSES ARE WHITE STUDIES. UNLESS IT'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH, AND THEN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS WILL READ A PICTURE BOOK ABOUT THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, AND THEN DO A LITTLE PLAY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'S LIFE. AND THEN WE GO BACK TO WHITE STUDIES IN THE NEXT CLASS. WHICH HAS YET TO INCITE AN OVERTHROW OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT BY IT'S NON-WHITE MEMBERS AND CITIZENS, WHICH ACTIVELY BOGGLES MY MIND. SO. ARIZONA. PLEASE BE SHUTTING UP NOW.

[piecesof-reeses.livejournal.com]

Wait, what the fuck? How the hell are ethnic studies ruining the national curriculum? Is your teacher actually on crack? Jesus Christ. I kind of want to meet him over Winter Break just so I can scream at him in person.

Yeah, I usually go lolol Arizona until I'm like STFU AND STFD Arizona. :||| Oh my gosh, that is so simultaneously hilarious and depressing, because your description is SO FUCKING ACCURATE. That is pretty much exactly what elementary schools do.

[chaoticallyclev.livejournal.com]

that's now my teacher's philosphy, it's a teaching philosophy standpoint. patricularly of Allan Bloom as it relates to Essentialism. Also, a little bit of E.D. Hirsch. so, these are the people that we draw on mainly in structuring American education.

THAT'S WHAT MY SCHOOL DID. white people filled the history books, black people were in the picture books. Or, if there is any mentions in the history books, it becomes its own chapter. Like in my TCE class and we had to spend three days talking about black history because, well, every other day was going to be talking about DWEMs. Which is why we have specific courses that cover family life of other ehtnic groups in america because, it's not included BEFORE college.

The argument for no culture studies in that philosophy is that it doesn't matter, or some bullshit that i've blocked out in a rage spasm. OF COURSE IT MATTERS. this is from the same people who say we need to learn history and draw lessons from it. Well. OTHER CULTURES HAVE HISTORY TOO, YOU JACKASSES.

[chaoticallyclev.livejournal.com]

wait, so, miss usually has a better knowledge of the legal system thatn i do, is there a way to overturn this on a legal basis? I can't think of anything of the top of my head because, for some reason, no one thought to include Amendments about how laws can be overturned on the basis of jackassery and stupid. Why they overlooked this, i will never know.

(we were talking about the defense of marriage act in class yesterday and i almost cried from the stupid. I loved the one girl who raised her hand and went "wait. if they really wanted to be defending marriage, why wouldn't they just make divorce illegal? That doesn't make any sense." And then my teacher just starts laughing and was like "exactly! it makes no sense. and other states not upholding marriage licenses issued to same sex couples in a different state completley violates the Constitution. But the law doesn't care about that.")

[desfinado.livejournal.com]

This HORRIFIES ME. It also freaks me out that I had no idea it was happening. Wow. WOW.

[piecesof-reeses.livejournal.com]

It was a really smart PR move by the Arizona government, to be perfectly honest. This move came right after the explosively controversial immigration law, so of course it got overshadowed. :\

But anyway, I'm glad you know now! :) Thanks for reading, and try to pass the word on?