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New Illinois law forces schools to teach about forced Mexican migration
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At a time in which US student lag behind their foreign counterparts in reading, writing and arithmetic; and at a time in which 250 years of American history is taught in selective sound bites with little focus on the complexity of the event, Governor Quinn signed into law legislation requiring schools to educate students as to the forceful removal of Mexican migrants during the Great Depression.
The law, written by State Senator, Willie Delgado (D), states, "that the teaching of history shall include a study of the events related to the forceful removal and illegal deportation of almost 2,000,000 Mexican-American U.S. citizens during the Great Depression."
The new mandate by the State of Illinois will inevitably result in the selective removal of other historical information surrounding the Great Depression, information that will likely provide a greater educative value such as the underlying causes or the Depression and events contributing to the duration of the depression. Educators are already pressed for time in their efforts to cover 250 years of US history within a couple hundred hours and when the government mandates curriculum based more on political motivation, than historical importance, an accurate historical record is simply not achievable. While the deportation of illegal and legal Mexican immigrants during the depression is important, our children would be better served by placing a greater emphasis on the policies of the Coolidge, Hoover and Roosevelt administrations that directly affected and contributed to the severity of the depression.
The great depression was among one of the most complex historical events in history, with causes that stem from political, economic, environmental and other issues ranging over a 3 decade period. An entire course could be committed to the studying the complexity of these events and for Illinois lawmakers to mandate an inordinate amount of time to the study of a single social event during this period is a great disservice to our children. Politically motivated mandates on education are the very reason why our education system lags behind that of other industrialized nations.
The full text of the law, Illinois SB1557 can be viewed here.
