AZ Bill 2281 Education Bill (Cameron: schools, exemption, live) - Arizona - City-Data Forum

Mike Horrell · 05-12-2010, 07:01 PM

Arizona bill targeting ethnic studies signed into law - latimes.com

When you’re on a roll…

garxhap · 05-12-2010, 07:24 PM

It also prohibits classes that advocate the overthrow of the Government. If they passed a law like that in California, UC Berkeley would have to shut down half their classes.

karmathecat · 05-12-2010, 08:14 PM

So they will stop teaching US History from its usual white conqueror stance? Doubtful...

Mike Horrell · 05-13-2010, 06:25 AM

I'm just putting popcorn in the oven while waiting to see what will constitute round three...

karmathecat · 05-13-2010, 06:46 AM

Actually, this might be round four, if you consider round one their initial response to the MLK federal holiday ( they observe it now ) and their English as an official language ammendment ( overturned )

I have to say that both of the recent bills are written so as to appear logical on the surface. It's only when you learn the history of them, especially this latest bill, that the spirit of the bill, and its anti-Hispanic/Latino/Chicano message comes out.

jaxart · 05-13-2010, 06:49 AM

An explanation of exemption:

Quote:

The measure doesn't prohibit classes that teach about the history of a particular ethnic group, as long as the course is open to all students and doesn't promote ethnic solidarity or resentment.

No matter how well a course is designed, personal comments made by the teacher to students can have great influence - even more so than the text book being used. Teachers today are already under so many restrictions that this just seems to add another worry involving the "right of free speech."

karmathecat · 05-13-2010, 06:54 AM

Yes, how does one teach about the history of slavery without making an African-American student feel a sense of resentment, especially with the low numbers of AA children in Arizona schools? Or do we now just skip over that bit of history all the way up to the civil rights movement, along with how we treated the Chinese brought to this country to work on the railroads, the Irish immigrants, the Japanese interred in WWII, etc.

That's one of the problems in schools today, teachers can't really teach the true history of the country lest they offend someone.

mike0421 · 05-13-2010, 07:45 AM

Some people aren't going to like this post, but thats okay, and I say this as someone who loves history and geography: the curriculum really needs to be steered more towards mathematics and sciences, or we are going to continue to lose our competitive edge geopolitically. I think that's more of a problem with schools today. The other stuff is nice to present as an argument for a well rounded student, but our economy is becoming increasingly specialized. When we argue about stuff like this, it's really 'small ball'. Mathematics, personal finance, specialized sciences should predominate once the youngster starts entering 5th or 6th grade.

karmathecat · 05-13-2010, 08:01 AM

Our economy is becoming increasingly GLOBALIZED. How on earth will our kids compete with kids from other nations if they can't find that other nation on a map? Or name its capital, leader and know a bit about its history/politics/people?

Math and science are very important, but no more important than a mandatory second language ( and my hope for our son is a third language ), and a strong knowledge of global history and geography.

No one likes discussing current US politics more than people who live outside the US. I had more in depth discussions about the last US presidential election with people in Uzbekistan than I ever did in the US. And their knowledge of US/World history and politics was thorough.

Many adults I know here in NM have an appalling lack of knowledge/interest in world politics or history. When we adopted our son and returned from Uzabekistan, I was amazed at how many people had never heard of the place! They certainly know nothing about its history and politics. Granted, it's a small country and at present, not much of a global player although its position in the world certainly makes that a not too remote possibility someday.

Ask someone here about David Cameron and they're likely to tell you he hasn't done much to impress them since "Titanic"....they can, however, name all of the latest American Idol and Dancing With the Stars contestants...

mike0421 · 05-13-2010, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmathecat

Our economy is becoming increasingly GLOBALIZED. How on earth will our kids compete with kids from other nations if they can't find that other nation on a map? Or name its capital, leader and know a bit about its history/politics/people?

Math and science are very important, but no more important than a mandatory second language ( and my hope for our son is a third language ), and a strong knowledge of global history and geography.

I actually agree with you about the language aspect, but I am pretty certain that, for instance, that a 12 year old in the Karnataka section of India is going to be able to tell you who the president of Mexico is, or what the capital of Colombia is, but will be more likely versed in the formation of the quadratic formula, probably more so than myself.