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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Arizona's Education Debates Reflect Republican Candidates' Conservative Rhetoric

Arizona's Education Debates Reflect Republican Candidates' Conservative Rhetoric:

Arizona's Education Debates Reflect Republican Candidates' Conservative Rhetoric

In the last few months, Arizona's conservative state legislature has sparred over bills that would police teachers for profanity inside and outside the classroom and allow for the study of the Bible in public and charter schools. These debates follow the 2010 ban on teaching ethnic studies.

According to critics, though, these arguments -- which primarily focus on social issues that can come up in the classroom -- ignore Arizona's deeper, festering difficulties in educating its children.

"This is the third or fourth legislature where instead of talking about the real issues -- not enough resources for education or accountability for everybody involved -- they do things like saying kids don̢۪t know enough about