Mexican American Studies Department Programs, Tucson Unified School District

The Mexican American Studies Department Programs provided courses for students at various elementary, middle, and high schools within the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). The program sought to provide students with material relevant to their own cultures as well as a community in which they could thrive and prepare to become leaders.

History

The Mexican American Studies Department Programs in the Tucson Unified School District came into existence in 1998.[1] The department grew from offering a few classes at the beginning to about 43 classes in recent years.[1] Students were able to take these courses at elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the district.[1] The program was shown to raise graduation rates.[2] The Latino dropout rate in the MAS program was 2.5%, which is lower than the national average of 56%.[1] The program was banned by a state law passed in 2010, but has been revived to a certain extent by various court rulings.

Demographics

About 1500 students were enrolled in the program.[1] According to an audit conducted by Cambium Learning, the racial breakdown of the students was 90% Hispanic, 5% White/Anglo, 2% Native American, 1.5% African American, and about 0.5% Asian American and Multi-Racial.[3] In the English Journal article “Developing Critical Consciousness: Resistance literature in a Chicano Literature class,” Curtis Acosta, MAS curriculum teacher, states that at Tucson High Magnet School 60 percent of students are Chicano/a or Latino/a students, and the European-American student population is 28 percent.[4]

Vision and Goals

The purpose of the classes were to enable students to have a community centered around learning, specifically learning that helps students to be leaders and understand and appreciate Mexican American history, both past and present.[3] The goals were to have culturally relevant curriculum that can be related to social justice work and encouraging student activism.[3] Another goal was that students would be able to be socially conscious and think critically.[3]

Curriculum

In the English Journal article “Developing Critical Consciousness: Resistance literature in a Chicano Literature class,” Curtis Acosta, a teacher and creator of the Mexican American Studies curriculum, outlines the class curriculum he used at Tucson High Magnet School.[4]:36 The classes in Chicano Studies/Literature as well as Raza Studies could be taken instead of American History and Junior high school English.[4]:36–37 The department "uses Chicano to refer to the Mexican American experience within the United States and raza, a more inclusive term that represents the entire human race".[4] The curriculum used in the junior class of the program is based on indigenous philosophy using the Xicano paradigm.[4]:37 This paradigm has four key concepts: Tezkatlipoka, Quetzalkoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe Totek.[4]:37–38 Tezkatlipoka is a concept about self reflection and finding one’s inner self.[4]:37 Quetzalkoatl is learning one's history and how that shapes who someone is.[4]:37 Huitzilopochtli is based on the will to act and be “positive, progressive, and creative”.[4]:37–38 Xipe Totek is the concept of being able to reshape one's self and be renew.[4]:38 Acosta states that the senior year high school classes follow the same paradigm and expand on it to incorporate more of a social justice aspect that relate specifically to “challenging mainstream assumptions and stereotypes” by teaching students the counter-narrative.[4]:38 Acosta states that the most important part of the curriculum is the “ability to loop with the same students in successive years”.[4]:41 The use of this curriculum Acosta expresses “is crucial for students to...discover their humanity and academic identity”.[4]:37 A part of the curriculum was also that students were required to go to community events.[3] Additionally, the teachers tried to engage and collaborate with parents.[3]

High School

The classes offered for High School students through the Mexican American Studies Department were American Government/Social Justice Education Project, American History/Mexican American Perspectives, Beginning and Advanced Chicano/a Art, and Latino Literature.[3] These classes involved analyzing government, researching problems that students face in school and coming up with solutions that were then presented to policy makers.[3] Additionally, students engaged with history that included a variety of experiences, perspectives, and contributions, specifically those of Mexican Americans, that often were left out of other United States history courses.[3] Art skills were developed while using content for artwork based around social justice issues.[3] Students were encouraged to be active learners by engaging with literature through discussion, projects, writings, and readings.[3]

Controversy

On May 11, 2010, the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, signed into law Arizona House Bill 2281.[5] This law, written by Tom Horne who at the time was Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction, made it illegal for schools to teach classes that were intended for any given ethnic group, go against another ethnic group, or advocate for overthrowing the government of the United States.[6] Additionally, ethnic solidarity, as opposed to individuality, could not be taught in accordance with the bill.[6] The bill was originally written with the intention to end the Mexican American Studies Department programs.[5] The consequence for school districts of not following this law was that they could lose 10% of their funding.[5] The bill came into effect on January 1, 2011.[6] Tom Horne, who at the time was the attorney general of Arizona, said that the program was not in accordance with the law.[6] However, the Tucson Unified School District decided against ending the program.[6] On December 27, 2011, the court found that the Mexican American Studies Department Programs were not in accordance with the law.[7] Then, on January 10, 2012, the school board voted to end the Mexican American Studies courses.[7] Additionally, the court ruling on December 27, 2011, deemed seven books in the MAS program to be in conflict with the law.[7] These books were only removed from the MAS program, so only the program's teachers and students were prohibited from using these banned books.[8]

Consequences of HB 2281

In 2012, the school district decided to bring about the Mexican American Student Services.[9] These services do not involve classes, but rather help address the achievement gap for Latino students.[9] Students and teachers who had been a part of the Mexican American Studies Department Programs appealed the ruling that the program should be eliminated.[1] In July 2013, a federal court decided that culturally relevant courses should be in place in the TUSD, specifically Mexican American Studies and African American Studies, in order to comply with desegregation.[10] On October 22, 2013, the school board voted to allow the seven books to be taught in the schools again.[11] As of May 2013, TUSD students can study Mexican American Studies through a class called CLASS (Chicano Literature, Art and Social Studies) offered at a college in Tucson.[12] The students can earn college credit and can take the class for free.[12]

Students who had participated in the Mexican American Studies Department classes brought a lawsuit against the officials who had shut down the program.[13] Oral arguments were heard on January 12, 2015, and a ruling on the case by the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit was made on July 7th, 2015.[14] This ruling stated that the law banning ethnic studies classes in Arizona is not broad and vague as plaintiffs argued.[14] However, the ongoing case was also sent to the lower Arizona district court in Tucson because there was enough evidence suggesting the law was “motivated at least in part by a discriminatory intent”.[14]

On August 22, 2017, Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled that the Arizona school district had violated the students' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by eliminating the Mexican American Studies Program in Tucson's public schools.[15] Since the ban of the Mexican American studies program had deprived the students of certain knowledge, Judge Tashima found the Tucson school district had interfered with the students' First Amendment right.[15] The judge further ruled that former superintendent Tom Horne, who initiated the campaign to remove the program, along with other school officials were motivated by racial bias and thereby violated the students' Fourteenth Amendment right.[16]

Books Banned Due to HB 2281

The following books were not allowed to be taught in classes due to HB2281:[17]

  • 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures by Elizabeth Martinez
  • Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic
  • Message to Aztlán: Selected Writings of Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez by Rodolfo Gonzales
  • Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales
  • Rethinking Columbus by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson
  • Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
  • The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales
  • Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Peña[18]

These books were banned because of their alleged radically anti-American worldviews and their generally racist sentiments towards white Americans of European heritage. HB 2281 did not ban these books from the school library system nor did it ban students and teachers from discussing topics such as White Privilege or Latino succession from the United States. HB 2281 does ban any organized curriculum that specifically promotes any racial ideology.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fong, Jing. "When This Teacher's Ethnic Studies Classes Were Banned, His Students Took the District to Court—and Won". Yes Magazine. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Planas, Roque. "Arizona's Law Banning Mexican-American Studies Curriculum Is Constitutional, Judge Rules". Huffington Post. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Curriculum Audit of the Mexican American Studies Department Tucson Unified School District" (PDF). Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Acosta, Curtis (2007). "Developing Critical Consciousness: Resistance Literature in a Chicano Literature Class" (PDF). English Journal. 97.2: 36.
  5. 1 2 3 Santa Cruz, Nicole. "Arizona bill targeting ethnic studies signed into law". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Lacey, Marc. "Rift in Arizona as Latino Class Is Found Illegal". New York Times. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Roque, Planas. "Neither Banned Nor Allowed: Mexican American Studies in Limbo in Arizona". FOXNEWS Latino. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Cabrera, Nolan L.; Meza, Elisa L.; Romero, Andrea J.; Cintli Rodríguez, Roberto (2013-01-09). ""If There is No Struggle, There is No Progress": Transformative Youth Activism and the School of Ethnic Studies". The Urban Review. 45 (1): 7–22. doi:10.1007/s11256-012-0220-7. ISSN 0042-0972.
  9. 1 2 Nevarez, Griselda. "Tucson's Mexican American Studies program is revived, has a new focus". VOXXI. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "Tucson school district poised to reinstate Mexican American Studies". VOXXI. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  11. ↑ Roque, Planas. "Mexican American Studies Books Un-Banned In Arizona". Huffington Post. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  12. 1 2 Grijalva, Barbara. "Dismantled TUSD Mexican American Studies Program getting new life". Tucson News Now. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Planas, Roque. "Lawsuit Against Mexican-American Studies Ban Gets A Court Date". Huffington Post. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 Planas, Roque (7 July 2015). "Arizona Law That Banned Mexican-American Studies May Be Discriminatory, Court Rules". huffingtonpost.com. The Huffington post. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  15. 1 2 Strauss, Valerie. "Arizona's ban on Mexican American studies was racist, U.S. court rules". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  16. ↑ Astor, Maggie. "Tucson's Mexican Studies Program Was a Victim of 'Racial Animus,' Judge Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  17. ↑ "Explore the banned curriculum". PBS. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  18. ↑ Winerip, Michael (19 March 2012). "Racial Lens Used to Cull Curriculum in Arizona". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
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