Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned, Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English

Arizona Ethnic Studies Classes Banned, Teachers With Accents Can No Longer Teach English

First Posted: 04-30-10 12:38 PM | Updated: 04-30-10 01:45 PM


Arizona's new immigration law is just about crime, its supporters say, but given that the state's new education policy equates ethnic studies programs with high treason, they may not be using the commonly accepted definition of "crime."

Under the ban, sent to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer by the state legislature Thursday, schools will lose state funding if they offer 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."

As ThinkProgress notes, the Tucson Unified School District's popular Mexican-American studies department is the target here. The state superintendent charges that the program exhibits "ethnic chauvinism."

Meanwhile, in a move that was more covert until the Wall Street Journal uncovered it, the Arizona Department of Education has told schools that teachers with "heavy" or "ungrammatical" accents are no longer allowed to teach English classes.

As outlined by the Journal, Arizona's recent pattern of discriminatory education policies is ironic -- and is likely a function of No Child Left Behind funding requirements -- given that the state spent a decade recruiting teachers for whom English was a second language.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/arizona-ethnic-studies-cl_n_558731.html

after specifically hiring people to teach english as a second language. So now they're not good enough because they speak a second language? :grr:

It's obvious what this 'law' is meant to do along with the "walking around while brown" fiasco: Ghettoize or drive out Hispanics.

Being "taught" how to make a sentence... from a teacher who couldn't make a complete sentence... was frustrating.

is that they've never studied a foreign language. Seriously.

In the process of learning to write and speak another language after a certain age, one almost always learns more about one's first language- as they do the one they're studying and practicing.

Hence- the xenophobia and fear of "the other" combined with what seems to be hypocritically poor English skills.

What a ridiculous move this is. I know it is frustrating to deal with accents, but really, there are plenty of incomprehensible "american" accents. It is very clear this is about brown people, not education.