Arizona Gets Schooled: Update on Ban of Mexican American Studies
*A huge victory for Mexican-American studies in general, and for the opponents of Arizona’s ban in specific.Tony Diaz gives us a very complete and detailed account of the issue and the federal court proceedings. Our thanks to Tony for leading on this charge. VL
By Tony Diaz/El Librotraficante,Huffington Post Latino VoicesDiscrimination is the only explanation for Arizona’s banning of Mexican American Studies, threatening intellectual freedom for the entire nation.
A federal appeals court suggested as much in their opinion on July 7, 2015.
“… the federal judges schooled Arizona with their probing and questioning.
This is the ruling regarding the court case against Arizona’s law used to ban Mexican American Studies. The court heard “Maya Arce vs Huppenthal”, now called “Maya Arce vs Douglas,” in January.
The law prohibits courses that promote the overthrow of the government. However, as the judges pointed out, it was enforced on only the K-12 Mexican American Studies (MAS) program at Tucson Unified School District (TUSD).
This was a monumental ruling because the court recognized the discrimination apparent in the state’s banning and gave the plaintiffs the chance to document it.
It appears that the federal government is ready to put in check Arizona’s rebellion.
The Librotraficantes were honored to be in the court room to witness history and hear first hand the oral arguments. Arizona’s testimony bordered on parody, but the federal judges schooled Arizona with their probing and questioning. Below are some highlights from the proceedings.
Arizona as Opposite Land:
Arizona argued that “student achievement is irrelevant.”
Arizona began its oral arguments by trying to deport America to Opposite Land.
The Cabrera Report and the Cambium Audit are 2 major studies that prove Mexican American courses helps students pass standardized Math and English tests and graduate. Arizona fought to keep the findings from being used as evidence in court.
Arizona’s justification for ignoring the data was mind-blowing. Arizona argued that “student achievement is irrelevant.”
Evidently, generations of teachers have the concept all wrong. Here we thought just the opposite.
The sense this makes is nonsense. And the judges thought so, too.
One judge said that ignoring the findings, “. . . would seem to demonstrate evidence of discriminatory intent.”
You really do have to see it to believe it, and to do so-click here for a link to a video of the oral arguments. And here are more highlights:
The worst job on earth must be serving as lawyer for Arizona. The state’s lawyer was flustered and stuttering when she was pressed to provide an example of a course that could satisfy the different components of the law. She could not.
It looked just like the Daily Show interview where Al Madrigal asked Michael Hicks, TUSD School Board Member, opponent of MAS, to explain how to teach African Americans students about slavery without creating resentment. He too fumbled with Arizona Gets Schooled: Update on Ban of Mexican American Studies « NewsTaco: