For almost two months now, students, teachers and concerned community members have been grappling with the abolition of Mexican-American studies from the Tucson Unified School District. In December, an Arizona judge ruled that the program violated the state prohibition against teaching classes designed for a specific ethnic group. State superintendent John Huppenthal responded by threatening TUSD with steep fines if it did not bring the program into compliance with Arizona law. Not wanting to face such fines and unsure as to what it would require to bring the program into compliance, school district officials had little choice but to put an end to the program entirely.
In a statement following the December court ruling on Mexican American studies, Huppenthal wrote that this program is particularly problematic in that it clearly promotes resentment against “a race or class of people,” presumably the white majority. This is a view shared by many opposed to teaching ethnic studies in high school classrooms. These individuals make the argument that such programs are designed to indoctrinate Latino students into believing that there is an ongoing war against their identity, thus spurring them on to fight back against their perceived oppressors.
However, for proponents of Mexican American studies and those with more intimate knowledge of the way this class was taught in Tucson, they argue that these classes do not in fact promote ethnic hostility, but quite the opposite, they promote ethnic acceptance, tolerance and unity. These individuals argue that it is important that all TUSD students learn about Latino culture and history, just as they learn about the historical and cultural contributions of other subgroups of our nation’s population.
Without a doubt, cultural education is a major part of public schooling in this country. To assume that students are meant only to learn mathematical theorems, historical dates and scientific laws is to ignore the fact that students are also taught about various cultural themes and concepts such as art, citizenship and U.S. traditions and customs. However, for some reason, when one teaches a course on Latino art, Mexican-American traditions, or the contributions of Mexican-American citizens to this country, a school then runs afoul of the law.
In many ways, what has been termed by Latino scholar Roberto Rodiguez as Arizona’s “war on Mexican-American studies,” is perhaps indicative of a larger ongoing culture war in this state. However, it is unclear based on whose argument one is inclined to accept, precisely who is waging this battle. Those supportive of removing ethnic studies from TUSD argue that the local Latino community is using the school system to force their ethnically specific cultural values on the students. On the other hand, those supportive of the continuation of this program argue that Huppenthal and the state of Arizona are fighting to ensure the continued predominance of majority white culture in this state.
This is the second in a series of articles on Latino immigration and precipitating cultural tension in the U.S. Read additional parts here: part 1, part 3, part 4, part 5.
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