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Iconoclast
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Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:42:35 -0700
Subject: 'Revolution' one of the R's taught in Tucson
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0203vip-maceachern0203.html
Racism, distrust of U.S. being ingrained by Tucson raza studies
Feb. 3, 2008 12:00 AM
For the activists of the Ethnic Studies program at Tucson High
School, history teacher John Ward seemed like a useful tool.
He was a certified teacher with a good academic record. He already
had taught numerous social-studies courses, including Mexican-
American history, by the start of the 2002-03 school year.
And, despite his Anglo-sounding name, Ward is Hispanic. That was
valuable to them, too.
The school administration asked Ward to teach a class in
conjunction with the Tucson Unified School District's nascent
Ethnic Studies program, which recently had set up a pilot project
at Tucson High. As he understood it at first, Ward would be the
"teacher of record," while facilitators from the Ethnic Studies
group would make presentations. But that's not exactly how the
class turned out.
"I was told it would be a standard history class with a Mexican-
American influence," said Ward, who no longer teaches. "But the
whole inference and tone was anger. (They taught students) that the
United States was and still is a fundamentally racist country in
nature, whose interests are contrary to those of Mexican-American
kids.
"Individuals in this (Ethnic Studies) department are vehemently
anti-Western culture. They are vehemently opposed to the United
States and its power. They are telling students they are victims
and that they should be angry and rise up."
Ward is still an important and valuable guy, even though he left
teaching in 2003.
He is important and valuable because he has witnessed, firsthand,
the caustic nature of a program that, according to its advocates,
is purely academic in nature while being supportive of TUSD's
growing body of Hispanic students.
And he is important because he is brave.
I have interviewed several other employees of TUSD in recent weeks,
all of whom have witnessed the program firsthand or who have
discussed the Ethnic Studies program with students taking it. None
of them would speak on the record. All asked that their names not
be used and that any chronicle of their experiences not include
details that could be traced back to them.
They are fearful. And for good reason.
"There's a lot of people who know this problem is occurring," one
TUSD employee said. "They won't do anything for two reasons. One,
they know (the program) is so much bigger than they are. And, two,
you're going to be called a racist."
Despite his heritage, Ward said he was accused of racism after
complaining to Tucson High administration about being used as a
"teacher of record" in behalf of the program known generally as
"raza studies."
"I began to voice these concerns internally," Ward said, "to
teachers. The situation then went immediately from bad to worse. I
was told I was racist."
The Ethnic Studies department, he said, took their complaints about
Ward to the TUSD school board.
A compromise was reached. Ward said he was removed from the class
entirely in March 2003 and reassigned to assist another teacher in
a traditional social-studies class. But the experience, especially
the changes he saw in the students in the class, was seared into
him.
"By the time I left that class, I saw a change (in the students),"
he said. "An angry tone. They taught them not to trust their
teachers, not to trust the system. They taught them the system
wasn't worth trusting."
TUSD's Ethnic Studies program first became an issue last fall when
Arizona's superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horne, asked
the district about it. He requested the books and other teaching
materials used in the program.
District officials objected to Horne's interest, suggesting the
state's highest elected official in charge of public education had
no right to examine course materials used in a public-school
curriculum. They went to the Tucson newspapers, which, in no
uncertain terms, told Horne in editorials to "butt out."
In Tucson news stories, program director Augustine Romero defended
the program. He said students taking raza studies courses perform
better on standardized tests than most students. He said the
program, which includes about 1,700 TUSD students, helps the
students develop a better sense of self-worth.
After several weeks, the district finally sent the materials to
Horne. As expected, Horne was not impressed.
They included texts titled Occupied America and The Pedagogy of
Oppression. Another text, he said, "gloats over the difficulties
our country is having at enforcing its immigration laws."
"Most of these students' parents or grandparents came to this
country legally because it is the land of opportunity," he said.
"They trust our public schools with their children. We should be
teaching the students that this is the land of opportunity; they
can achieve their ambitions if they work hard.
"They should not be taught that this is the land of oppression."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0216macea
chern0217.html
Reach the author at 602-444-8883.
'Revolution' one of the R's taught in Tucson
Feb. 16, 2008 04:49 PM
Last in a three-part series.
Augustine Romero, director of Tucson Unified School District's
ethnic-studies department, is nothing if not candid about his
program.
Traditional history and civics courses, Romero argues, have "been
highly ineffective to children of color." He has a better way.
That better way, as presented to students in Romero's increasingly
influential program, is, effectively, revolution. Or, if that "R-
word" strikes you as too edgy, resistance - a resistance against
history and civics as traditionally taught, which Romero considers
the product of "ultraconservatives."
"With the ultraconservative orientation, people want to believe
that if you offer a naive, simplistic, color-blind orientation,
that's the only truth.
"We transcend indoctrination because we offer multiple
perspectives. It's a higher level of thinking."
If Romero's words sound politically anchored, they should. Romero
happily acknowledges that he and all his instructors are
"progressives," and he is contemptuous of teachers who resist
admitting that all history instruction is political.
"Our teachers are left-leaning. They are progressives. They're
going to have things (in their courses) that conservatives are not
going to like," he told me.
"Their concern is that it's not their political orientation. To sit
here and say teachers don't walk into the classroom with a
political orientation, that's the furthest (thing) from the truth."
Romero is a confident man. Not unlike that self-assured aide-de-
camp of Fidel Castro, Ch? Guevara, whose romantic portrait has been
hung in Romero's ethnic-studies classrooms.
Ch?, too, believed the world was divided between progressives and
ultraconservative reactionaries, many of whom he imprisoned and
shot.
In one of Romero's TUSD classrooms, in fact, a video posted for a
time on the Internet Web site YouTube showed at least four separate
posters of the beret-capped Ch? decorating the classroom walls. And
a poster of Pancho Villa. And, yes, one poster of the godfather of
the revolution himself, Fidel.
Romero's confidence about his program and its future at TUSD is
justified. It is growing rapidly.
The $2.6 million "ethnic studies" program in the Tucson school
district is an umbrella program for four separate departments:
"raza" (Hispanic) studies, African-American studies, Pan-Asian
studies and Native American studies. Raza studies are by far the
largest.
At Tucson High School, the department offers 12 separate literature
and history courses. Districtwide, it offers 25 course sections in
four high schools, all at junior and senior levels. According to
Romero, TUSD may offer an "intercultural proficiencies" course next
fall to freshmen. And, he adds, it may be a required course.
Romero's program has raised some eyebrows. State Superintendent of
Public Instruction Tom Horne, who had a devil of a time even
learning about the program's curriculum, has seen the program's
texts (at last). He concludes they are steeped in leftist ideology
and race-based resentment.
But the real horrors of Romero's program are closer to home.
In the past several weeks, messages have filtered out from teachers
and other TUSD employees (some directed to Horne; others who have
contacted me, following two previous columns on this subject) about
what an officially recognized resentment-based program does to a
high school.
In a word, it creates fear.
Teachers and counselors are being called before their school
principals and even the district school board and accused of being
racists. And with a cadre of self-acknowledged "progressive"
political activists in the ethnic-studies department on the hunt,
the race transgressors are multiplying.
One school counselor, who wrote to Horne, described an entire
counseling department being decried as a racist after one of
Romero's activists saw an "innocuous notation" on a draft paper
drawn up from a department brain-storming session.
The ethnic-studies teacher "grossly misinterpreted" the notation to
have racist meaning, the counselor said. The teacher wrote a letter
to the parents of his students "telling them the school's
counselors are racist" and encouraged his students to sign the
letter.
"I can tell you that the weeks that followed were difficult ones
for the counselors," the TUSD school counselor wrote.
"There were many tears. Most of us lost sleep. All of us
experienced heightened levels of anxiety. Through no fault of our
own, we were being perceived differently by our students and their
parents."
Ethnic-studies director Romero points to the confidence his program
instills in its students. And, allegedly, the better grades they
get, once imbued with his program's "multiple perspectives."
But to every revolution - or, if you must, every resistance to
oppressors - there is a dark side. There are victims.
Ch? would understand.
STAY INFORMED GO TO http://www.rescuewithoutborders.org
SHERIFFS JOE'S ILLEGAL'S HOTLINE NUMBER (602)876- 4154
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional
maturity." - Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
Subject: 'Revolution' one of the R's taught in Tucson
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0203vip-maceachern0203.html
Racism, distrust of U.S. being ingrained by Tucson raza studies
Feb. 3, 2008 12:00 AM
For the activists of the Ethnic Studies program at Tucson High
School, history teacher John Ward seemed like a useful tool.
He was a certified teacher with a good academic record. He already
had taught numerous social-studies courses, including Mexican-
American history, by the start of the 2002-03 school year.
And, despite his Anglo-sounding name, Ward is Hispanic. That was
valuable to them, too.
The school administration asked Ward to teach a class in
conjunction with the Tucson Unified School District's nascent
Ethnic Studies program, which recently had set up a pilot project
at Tucson High. As he understood it at first, Ward would be the
"teacher of record," while facilitators from the Ethnic Studies
group would make presentations. But that's not exactly how the
class turned out.
"I was told it would be a standard history class with a Mexican-
American influence," said Ward, who no longer teaches. "But the
whole inference and tone was anger. (They taught students) that the
United States was and still is a fundamentally racist country in
nature, whose interests are contrary to those of Mexican-American
kids.
"Individuals in this (Ethnic Studies) department are vehemently
anti-Western culture. They are vehemently opposed to the United
States and its power. They are telling students they are victims
and that they should be angry and rise up."
Ward is still an important and valuable guy, even though he left
teaching in 2003.
He is important and valuable because he has witnessed, firsthand,
the caustic nature of a program that, according to its advocates,
is purely academic in nature while being supportive of TUSD's
growing body of Hispanic students.
And he is important because he is brave.
I have interviewed several other employees of TUSD in recent weeks,
all of whom have witnessed the program firsthand or who have
discussed the Ethnic Studies program with students taking it. None
of them would speak on the record. All asked that their names not
be used and that any chronicle of their experiences not include
details that could be traced back to them.
They are fearful. And for good reason.
"There's a lot of people who know this problem is occurring," one
TUSD employee said. "They won't do anything for two reasons. One,
they know (the program) is so much bigger than they are. And, two,
you're going to be called a racist."
Despite his heritage, Ward said he was accused of racism after
complaining to Tucson High administration about being used as a
"teacher of record" in behalf of the program known generally as
"raza studies."
"I began to voice these concerns internally," Ward said, "to
teachers. The situation then went immediately from bad to worse. I
was told I was racist."
The Ethnic Studies department, he said, took their complaints about
Ward to the TUSD school board.
A compromise was reached. Ward said he was removed from the class
entirely in March 2003 and reassigned to assist another teacher in
a traditional social-studies class. But the experience, especially
the changes he saw in the students in the class, was seared into
him.
"By the time I left that class, I saw a change (in the students),"
he said. "An angry tone. They taught them not to trust their
teachers, not to trust the system. They taught them the system
wasn't worth trusting."
TUSD's Ethnic Studies program first became an issue last fall when
Arizona's superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horne, asked
the district about it. He requested the books and other teaching
materials used in the program.
District officials objected to Horne's interest, suggesting the
state's highest elected official in charge of public education had
no right to examine course materials used in a public-school
curriculum. They went to the Tucson newspapers, which, in no
uncertain terms, told Horne in editorials to "butt out."
In Tucson news stories, program director Augustine Romero defended
the program. He said students taking raza studies courses perform
better on standardized tests than most students. He said the
program, which includes about 1,700 TUSD students, helps the
students develop a better sense of self-worth.
After several weeks, the district finally sent the materials to
Horne. As expected, Horne was not impressed.
They included texts titled Occupied America and The Pedagogy of
Oppression. Another text, he said, "gloats over the difficulties
our country is having at enforcing its immigration laws."
"Most of these students' parents or grandparents came to this
country legally because it is the land of opportunity," he said.
"They trust our public schools with their children. We should be
teaching the students that this is the land of opportunity; they
can achieve their ambitions if they work hard.
"They should not be taught that this is the land of oppression."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0216macea
chern0217.html
Reach the author at 602-444-8883.
'Revolution' one of the R's taught in Tucson
Feb. 16, 2008 04:49 PM
Last in a three-part series.
Augustine Romero, director of Tucson Unified School District's
ethnic-studies department, is nothing if not candid about his
program.
Traditional history and civics courses, Romero argues, have "been
highly ineffective to children of color." He has a better way.
That better way, as presented to students in Romero's increasingly
influential program, is, effectively, revolution. Or, if that "R-
word" strikes you as too edgy, resistance - a resistance against
history and civics as traditionally taught, which Romero considers
the product of "ultraconservatives."
"With the ultraconservative orientation, people want to believe
that if you offer a naive, simplistic, color-blind orientation,
that's the only truth.
"We transcend indoctrination because we offer multiple
perspectives. It's a higher level of thinking."
If Romero's words sound politically anchored, they should. Romero
happily acknowledges that he and all his instructors are
"progressives," and he is contemptuous of teachers who resist
admitting that all history instruction is political.
"Our teachers are left-leaning. They are progressives. They're
going to have things (in their courses) that conservatives are not
going to like," he told me.
"Their concern is that it's not their political orientation. To sit
here and say teachers don't walk into the classroom with a
political orientation, that's the furthest (thing) from the truth."
Romero is a confident man. Not unlike that self-assured aide-de-
camp of Fidel Castro, Ch? Guevara, whose romantic portrait has been
hung in Romero's ethnic-studies classrooms.
Ch?, too, believed the world was divided between progressives and
ultraconservative reactionaries, many of whom he imprisoned and
shot.
In one of Romero's TUSD classrooms, in fact, a video posted for a
time on the Internet Web site YouTube showed at least four separate
posters of the beret-capped Ch? decorating the classroom walls. And
a poster of Pancho Villa. And, yes, one poster of the godfather of
the revolution himself, Fidel.
Romero's confidence about his program and its future at TUSD is
justified. It is growing rapidly.
The $2.6 million "ethnic studies" program in the Tucson school
district is an umbrella program for four separate departments:
"raza" (Hispanic) studies, African-American studies, Pan-Asian
studies and Native American studies. Raza studies are by far the
largest.
At Tucson High School, the department offers 12 separate literature
and history courses. Districtwide, it offers 25 course sections in
four high schools, all at junior and senior levels. According to
Romero, TUSD may offer an "intercultural proficiencies" course next
fall to freshmen. And, he adds, it may be a required course.
Romero's program has raised some eyebrows. State Superintendent of
Public Instruction Tom Horne, who had a devil of a time even
learning about the program's curriculum, has seen the program's
texts (at last). He concludes they are steeped in leftist ideology
and race-based resentment.
But the real horrors of Romero's program are closer to home.
In the past several weeks, messages have filtered out from teachers
and other TUSD employees (some directed to Horne; others who have
contacted me, following two previous columns on this subject) about
what an officially recognized resentment-based program does to a
high school.
In a word, it creates fear.
Teachers and counselors are being called before their school
principals and even the district school board and accused of being
racists. And with a cadre of self-acknowledged "progressive"
political activists in the ethnic-studies department on the hunt,
the race transgressors are multiplying.
One school counselor, who wrote to Horne, described an entire
counseling department being decried as a racist after one of
Romero's activists saw an "innocuous notation" on a draft paper
drawn up from a department brain-storming session.
The ethnic-studies teacher "grossly misinterpreted" the notation to
have racist meaning, the counselor said. The teacher wrote a letter
to the parents of his students "telling them the school's
counselors are racist" and encouraged his students to sign the
letter.
"I can tell you that the weeks that followed were difficult ones
for the counselors," the TUSD school counselor wrote.
"There were many tears. Most of us lost sleep. All of us
experienced heightened levels of anxiety. Through no fault of our
own, we were being perceived differently by our students and their
parents."
Ethnic-studies director Romero points to the confidence his program
instills in its students. And, allegedly, the better grades they
get, once imbued with his program's "multiple perspectives."
But to every revolution - or, if you must, every resistance to
oppressors - there is a dark side. There are victims.
Ch? would understand.
STAY INFORMED GO TO http://www.rescuewithoutborders.org
SHERIFFS JOE'S ILLEGAL'S HOTLINE NUMBER (602)876- 4154
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional
maturity." - Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
k4vr3dht92rnvafqd8s71tj24l1k6lon9@4ax.com...