Arizona Legislature Passes Bill Banning Ethnic Studies Programs
It looks as though someone in this country is finally starting to make sense and stand up for what is right instead of cowtowing to special interest groups and political correctness.
Despite opposition from some areas of the country,several more states, Oklahoma, Texas and others are beginning to follow suit.
Hooray for Arizona!!
Quote from Fox news:
After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.
The bill, which passed 32-26 in the state House, had been approved by the Senate a day earlier. It now goes to Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature.
The new bill would make it illegal for a school district to teach 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.”
The bill stipulates that courses can continue to be taught for Native American pupils in compliance with federal law and does not prohibit English as a second language classes. It also does not prohibit the teaching of the Holocaust or other cases of genocide.
State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Horne called passage in the state House a victory for the principle that education should unite, not divide students of differing backgrounds.
” Traditionally, the American public school system has brought together students from different backgrounds and taught them to be Americans and to treat each other as individuals, and not on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds,” Horne said. “This is consistent with the fundamental American value that we are all individuals, not exemplars of whatever ethnic groups we were born into. Ethnic studies programs teach the opposite, and are designed to promote ethnic chauvinism.”
Horne began fighting in 2007 against the Tucson Unified School District’s program, which he said defied Martin Luther King’s call to judge a person by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Horne claimed the ethnic studies program encourages”ethnic chauvanism,” promotes Latinos to rise up and create a new territory out of the southwestern region of the United States and tries to intimidate conservative teachers in the school system.
But opponents said the bill would prevent teachers from using an academically proven method of educating students about history.They also argued that the Legislature should not be involved in developing school curriculum.
Schools that fail to abide by the law would have state funds withheld.
End Quote
For way too long , society has been teaching separatism, we are all Americans, we should all conform to the same ideals and principles. Since everyone in this country , except the native American Indians are immigrants, everyone wants to retain some of the culture of the country we came from, that is all well and good.
We don’t all have to think alike, and not have different views and opinions, but if someone one immigrants to this country, they should be willing to learn of our values customs,and language.
If they are coming here for a better life,with freedom and an opportunity to take advantage of all the positive things this country has to offer , why would they want to change America into the country they just came from?
The situation in Arizona has gotten desperate, with higher crime rates than New York City, it is way past time something is done. With the Federal government doing nothing on immigration, it is time for the states to step up and do it for them.
Maybe this will encourage Washington to fulfill their duties and obligations of the federal government, instead of inserting their nose into matters they have no business trying to control.
Thinking Between the Lines 