[MCP] Arizona bill targets anti-Western lessons

[John Lindsay]

A similar bill was introduced in Congress a few years ago at the height of the animosity associated with 9/11.
 
I think the Bush administration similarly attempted to prohibit certain books from public libraries. 
John L. http://www.studycircles.org/en/Article.2.aspx 
 
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Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:08:58 -0400To: mcp at edchange.orgFrom: driviere at oise.utoronto.caSubject: [MCP] Arizona bill targets anti-Western lessons


Hi all,A friend of mine from Arizona forwarded this article to me:http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/17/20080417unamerican0417.htmlIs anybody here familiar with this story?  Is this bill something that would eventually be passed?DominiqueP.S.  I've quoted the article below, just in case the link doesn't work.**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************"Arizona public schools would be barred from any teachings considered counter to democracy or Western civilization under a proposal endorsed Wednesday by a legislative panel.Additionally, the measure would prohibit students of the state's universities and community colleges from forming groups based in whole or part on the race of their members, such as the Black Business Students Association at Arizona State University or Native Americans United at Northern Arizona University. Those groups would be forbidden from operating on campus.The brainchild of Rep. Russell Pearce, the measure appeared as an amendment to Senate Bill 1108, which originally would have made minor changes to the state's Homeland Security advisory councils. The House Appropriations Committee approved the new proposal on a 9-6 vote.Pearce, a Mesa Republican, said his target isn't diversity instruction, but schools that use taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate students in what he characterized as anti-American or seditious thinking. The measure is at least partially a response to a controversy surrounding an ethnic-studies program in the Tucson Unified School District, which critics have said is unpatriotic and teaches revolution.SB 1108 states, 'A primary purpose of public education is to inculcate values of American citizenship. Public tax dollars used in public schools should not be used to denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization.'For schools that violate the anti-Western-teachings provision, the bill provides the state superintendent of public instruction with the authority to withhold a portion of state funding.Rep. John Kavanagh, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said he hopes the measure helps return cultural studies in the state's schools to a 'melting pot' model.'This bill basically says, 'You're here. Adopt American values,' " said Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican. "If you want a different culture, then fine, go back to that culture.'But Democratic committee members complained that the measure is overly vague, failing to define what constitutes teachings that 'disparage or overtly encourage dissent from the values of democracy and Western civilization.'The result, said Rep. Pete Rios, would likely be a chilling effect on public instruction regarding diversity and other cultures.'There's nothing wrong with being bilingual, bicultural,' said Rios, a Hayden Democrat. 'I like Mexican music. I like Elvis Presley. I'm bicultural. What's wrong with that? I think kids, students, need to learn about their culture.'"Dominique Riviere, Ph.D.Research Officer,Centre for Urban SchoolingDepartment of Curriculum, Teaching and LearningOntario Institute for Studies in EducationUniversity of Toronto252 Bloor Street West, 11th FloorToronto, ON   M5S 1V6Phone:  416-978-0202Fax:  416-926-4754** Please visit our website and support the school safety petition to the Toronto District School Board: http://cus.oise.utoronto.ca.  Help us reach our goal of 500 signatures! **
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