CCBC-Net Archives
Clarification on Tucson (was Re: Little House Informs/Inspires Vietnamese Author)
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Debbie Reese <dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:19:04 -0600
In her post, Nancy Bo Flood referenced Tucson, but some of what she shared was a bit unclear. A "Native American Studies" program was not "taken off the shelves." Books by Native authors were part of the Mexican American Studies program that was shut down. There was no "Native American Studies" program in Tucson.
I followed the Tucson story closely, reporting about it on my site, and was involved in drafting ALA-OIF's statement. I also sat on panels addressing it.
Here's a link to my site coverage on it. http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2012/01/aicl-coverage-of-arizona-law-that.html I'll share highlights in this email but I do encourage you to go to the many pages I have about it, and especially, watch the videos.
For those who didn't follow what happened there, teachers interested in providing students with stories that reflected Mexican American history in a more accurate and inclusive way developed a curriculum to do that.
Their work evolved into Mexican American Studies, which was taught in varying degrees from elementary through high school. It was a small program, but students who were in it were learning to think critically. On various measures (attendance, grades, testing), the students in the program did better than those who were not in it.
Part of the program's thrust involved encouraging students to attend civic events outside of school. There was an event at which Delores Huerta spoke. Students were there. In her remarks, she said "Republicans hate Latinos." The Republican power structure in Arizona heard about it and asked for time to speak to students at a school assembly. Republican leaders would be there to answer questions. Students expected to be able to pose questions at the assembly, but were told they had to write their questions on note cards, and that a moderator would choose which ones to ask. The students objected. They stood up and turned their back on the speakers.
Incensed, the power structure in Arizona organized, politically, to shut the program down, saying it was teaching kids to be rude, and that it was also teaching them to overthrow the US government, and that it was teaching students to resent white people.
In 2010, a law was passed (HB 2281) and the State prepared to shut down the Mexican American Studies program. An outside consultant was hired to visit the classrooms and see if the classes were in violation of the new law. The findings were that the teachers were not in violation. In fact, they found much to praise with respect to critical thinking. The group that did the investigation was hired by the state, not by the teachers or the school.
All good and well, one would think, but no.
Arizona's leaders rejected the findings of the outside consultant and pressed forward and shut the program down anyway. It was brutal.
The programs that were in place for Native students were student services, not curriculum or classes, and so, Native American Student Services were not impacted by the law. Nancy--I'd love more info on the document you referred to.
So, Mark and JL Powers, and others who, along with me, advocate for critical thinking, there was some terrific work happening in Arizona, but it became a violation of law. That said, Mark and I have been arguing about this for almost 20 years and I'm still hard pressed to find a lesson plan in which teachers are using LHOP to think critically and study bias against American Indians. In Tucson, students were asked to think critically about Thanksgiving. That was some of the evidence used in shutting down the program.
If you don't want to go to my site, there are other resources, from statements by the Modern Language Association: http://www.mla.org/ec_tucson to the a CNN story on it: http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/22/how-tucson-schools-changed-after-mexican-american-studies-ban/ to the ALA-OIF statement: http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=3157
Debbie
__________________________________________________________ Debbie Reese, PhD Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com
Website: American Indians in Children's Literature
_at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net
Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:19:04 -0600
In her post, Nancy Bo Flood referenced Tucson, but some of what she shared was a bit unclear. A "Native American Studies" program was not "taken off the shelves." Books by Native authors were part of the Mexican American Studies program that was shut down. There was no "Native American Studies" program in Tucson.
I followed the Tucson story closely, reporting about it on my site, and was involved in drafting ALA-OIF's statement. I also sat on panels addressing it.
Here's a link to my site coverage on it. http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2012/01/aicl-coverage-of-arizona-law-that.html I'll share highlights in this email but I do encourage you to go to the many pages I have about it, and especially, watch the videos.
For those who didn't follow what happened there, teachers interested in providing students with stories that reflected Mexican American history in a more accurate and inclusive way developed a curriculum to do that.
Their work evolved into Mexican American Studies, which was taught in varying degrees from elementary through high school. It was a small program, but students who were in it were learning to think critically. On various measures (attendance, grades, testing), the students in the program did better than those who were not in it.
Part of the program's thrust involved encouraging students to attend civic events outside of school. There was an event at which Delores Huerta spoke. Students were there. In her remarks, she said "Republicans hate Latinos." The Republican power structure in Arizona heard about it and asked for time to speak to students at a school assembly. Republican leaders would be there to answer questions. Students expected to be able to pose questions at the assembly, but were told they had to write their questions on note cards, and that a moderator would choose which ones to ask. The students objected. They stood up and turned their back on the speakers.
Incensed, the power structure in Arizona organized, politically, to shut the program down, saying it was teaching kids to be rude, and that it was also teaching them to overthrow the US government, and that it was teaching students to resent white people.
In 2010, a law was passed (HB 2281) and the State prepared to shut down the Mexican American Studies program. An outside consultant was hired to visit the classrooms and see if the classes were in violation of the new law. The findings were that the teachers were not in violation. In fact, they found much to praise with respect to critical thinking. The group that did the investigation was hired by the state, not by the teachers or the school.
All good and well, one would think, but no.
Arizona's leaders rejected the findings of the outside consultant and pressed forward and shut the program down anyway. It was brutal.
The programs that were in place for Native students were student services, not curriculum or classes, and so, Native American Student Services were not impacted by the law. Nancy--I'd love more info on the document you referred to.
So, Mark and JL Powers, and others who, along with me, advocate for critical thinking, there was some terrific work happening in Arizona, but it became a violation of law. That said, Mark and I have been arguing about this for almost 20 years and I'm still hard pressed to find a lesson plan in which teachers are using LHOP to think critically and study bias against American Indians. In Tucson, students were asked to think critically about Thanksgiving. That was some of the evidence used in shutting down the program.
If you don't want to go to my site, there are other resources, from statements by the Modern Language Association: http://www.mla.org/ec_tucson to the a CNN story on it: http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/22/how-tucson-schools-changed-after-mexican-american-studies-ban/ to the ALA-OIF statement: http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=3157
Debbie
__________________________________________________________ Debbie Reese, PhD Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com
Website: American Indians in Children's Literature
_at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net
Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois
---
You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu.
To post to the list, send message to: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
To receive messages in digest format, send a message to...
ccbc-net-request_at_lists.wisc.edu
...and include only this command in the body of the message:
set ccbc-net digest
CCBC-Net Archives
The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp
To access the archives, go to:
http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net
and enter the following:
username: ccbc-net
password: Look4Posts
Received on Tue 11 Feb 2014 08:20:00 AM CST
