Over the past month, one of the most watched developments in the news for educators, academicians and progressive-minded folk was the banning of ethnic studies classes in Arizona. This action enacted by the state Legislature and approved by Gov. Jan Brewer and state school Superintendent Tom Horne means that classes focusing of the histories, experiences and contributions of specific ethnic groups cannot be offered in Arizona public schools. During the weeks that this story was a centerpiece in the news cycle, some of the most important points made by various pundits were:
While the Arizona debacle has now moved out of the news cycle, it is important for progressive-minded folk to continue pushing back against it and the deeper, damaging ideology of colorblindness from which it generates. One way of doing so is to envision the many pedagogical entry points to this issue so young adults in college can understand the different layers of “Arizona” and what is at stake. In light of this importance, here are three key pedagogical entry points to Arizona.
1. Arizona is a quintessential example of what a specific political ideology looks like “on the ground.” Oftentimes, terms like conservative, liberal, Left, and Right can be incredibly vague without concrete examples of what they look like in people’s daily lives. The specific actions in Arizona over the past year—immigration policies, banning ethnic studies, policies about teachers’ “grammatical accents”— are straightforward and grounded examples of what a conservative ideology looks like in practice. And, such actions in Arizona are not recent inventions of the 21st century. Necessary background “reading” here is Public Enemy’s 1991 video for “By The Time I Get to Arizona”. This video, which indeed contains some strong but appropriate imagery of protest and oppression, is a pedagogical site of its own that places the current Arizona issue into a bit broader historical and political context.
2. Arizona is also a quintessential example for how curriculum can affect all students. Every semester I ask my student what comes to mind when they hear the word “curriculum,” and the most common answer is “books.” Granted, the general notion of curriculum isn’t the most enticing in the professional lexicon of education. But the content and positioned representations within these books are what deserve attention. In the case of Arizona, what kinds of affects will these simplified and skewed curricular changes have on students? In posing such a question, it is important to think beyond what information students will and will not receive and consider heuristics — the intellectual parameters of world view, the wheels in the head — through which people think. Deeper than facts and figures, what kinds of affects will such a curriculum have on students minds?
