Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies/Teachers with Accents

[CJB]

Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned, Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English

Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned, Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English

Arizona's new immigration law is just about crime, its supporters say, but given that the state's new education policy equates ethnic studies programs with high treason, they may not be using the commonly accepted definition of "crime."

Under the ban, sent to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer by the state legislature Thursday, schools will lose state funding if they offer any courses that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

As ThinkProgress notes, the Tucson Unified School District's popular Mexican-American studies department is the target here. The state superintendent charges that the program exhibits "ethnic chauvinism."

Meanwhile, in a move that was more covert until the Wall Street Journal uncovered it, the Arizona Department of Education has told schools that teachers with "heavy" or "ungrammatical" accents are no longer allowed to teach English classes.

As outlined by the Journal, Arizona's recent pattern of discriminatory education policies is ironic -- and is likely a function of No Child Left Behind funding requirements -- given that the state spent a decade recruiting teachers for whom English was a second language.

In the 1990s, Arizona hired hundreds of teachers whose first language was Spanish as part of a broad bilingual-education program. Many were recruited from Latin America.

Then in 2000, voters passed a ballot measure stipulating that instruction be offered only in English. Bilingual teachers who had been instructing in Spanish switched to English.
Teachers who don't meet the new fluency standards have the option of taking classes to improve their English, the Journal reports, but if they fail to reach the state's targets would be fired or reassigned.

 

[shel90]

Oh geez! *smh*

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

That's so lame. Now many teachers are going to lose their jobs over this shit.

*facepalms*

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

And this is only the start...

Wonder how ugly that bastard will be when its head is finally fully unveiled.

 

[jillio]

And this is only the start...

Wonder how ugly that bastard will be when its head is finally fully unveiled.

Damned ugly. Anytime discrimination is made socially acceptable, the ugliness that accompanies it is horribly ugly.

 

[CJB]

Damned ugly. Anytime discrimination is made socially acceptable, the ugliness that accompanies it is horribly ugly.

I'm hoping something good will come of this, i.e. maybe the people who couldn't see the racism in the immigration bill will see it this time around, now that the common thread of "lets purge AZ of Hispanics" is hard to miss.

 

[jillio]

I'm hoping the people who couldn't see the racism in the immigration bill will hopefully see the racism this time around, especially given the two bills have the common thread of "purge AZ of Hispanics."

We can always hope. But the sad fact is, the more racist attitudes one has, the less likely they are to see them as racist. If you ask someone that is so obviously racist in a covert way, they will deny their racism to the day they die. We've seen it here many times.

 

[CJB]

We can always hope. But the sad fact is, the more racist attitudes one has, the less likely they are to see them as racist. If you ask someone that is so obviously racist in a covert way, they will deny their racism to the day they die. We've seen it here many times.

Good point.

 

[dogmom]

I think that's disgusting and VERY thinly veiled RACIST BS....why I am very wary of "English-first" or "English-only".

 

[shel90]

I'm hoping something good will come of this, i.e. maybe the people who couldn't see the racism in the immigration bill will see it this time around, now that the common thread of "lets purge AZ of Hispanics" is hard to miss.

Wow, my ex hubby and daughter definitely moved to the wrong state at the wrong time. Now, my daughter is angry at white people. Oh brother..

 

[kokonut]

If they are up to standards, then no problem. I'd rather have a good teacher than a crappy one no matter what the subject course is.

 

[sallylou]

Shel, I'm angry at some white people, too. Teens know more and are smarter than most people give them credit for.

 

[shel90]

Shel, I'm angry at some white people, too. Teens know more and are smarter than most people give them credit for.

She put on her FB that she is against white people now. I told her that she has the right to her opinions but dont forget that she is half white herself and then just left it at that.

 

[sallylou]

She's upset and she's expressing herself. She'll deal with it. My teen is the kind of kid that's always trying to bring people around on social issues. I just tell him not to be disappointed if he doesn't succeed with some people.

 

[CJB]

Wow, my ex hubby and daughter definitely moved to the wrong state at the wrong time. Now, my daughter is angry at white people. Oh brother..

I'm angry at the white idiots that keep making these racist laws. It makes me ashamed to be white when I know my appearance probably reminds others of the sheer acts of stupidity and bigotry that members of my own race have done.

Of course being angry at all white people is unfair since there is diversity in opinion and belief among the white community just as much as there is among communities of color.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Wirelessly posted

Shel, I'm angry at some white people, too. Teens know more and are smarter than most people give them credit for.

She put on her FB that she is against white people now. I told her that she has the right to her opinions but dont forget that she is half white herself and then just left it at that.

Latinos and Latinas are technically white, lol.

 

[CJB]

Wirelessly posted



Latinos and Latinas are technically white, lol.

Kind of ironic how most Latinos consider themselves white and yet so many whites are racist against them and see them as "those Mexicans."

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Wirelessly posted

Same thing with Italians, Greeks and Slavs-- people know theyre of Europeans, but still see "colour." Yay for swarthy skin colour.

 

[CJB]

Wirelessly posted

Same thing with Italians, Greeks and Slavs-- people know theyre of Europeans, but still see "colour." Yay for swarthy skin colour.

Just goes to show how much race is sociocultural.

 

[Steinhauer]

I'm hoping something good will come of this, i.e. maybe the people who couldn't see the racism in the immigration bill will see it this time around, now that the common thread of "lets purge AZ of Hispanics" is hard to miss.

Excuse me, but where do you get off calling this a "Hispanic purging" law?

The author of this law has grandchildren that are Hispanic ..... me thinks your racist.

This bill is an attempt to purge Arizona of ILLEGALS.

Perhaps Arizona should be focusing more on educating "English Comprehension" for the politically impaired.