User:Lhd31/sandbox

For the precious knowledge article, I would like to include more content pertaining to: the background of the Tucson controversy, the reception of the documentary, and the aftermath of both the students and the MAS program in Tucson. Also, I think there should be more direct quotes from the different sides of the controversy to make it more neutral and reliable.I would like to include more content pertaining to: the background of the Tucson controversy, the reception of the documentary, and the aftermath of both the students (and Acosta) and the MAS program in Tucson (court cases). Also, I think there should be more direct quotes from the different sides of the controversy to make it more neutral and reliable. Also include the specific books censored in the program and the book smuggling incident. Include protests. 14:45, 2 November 2016 (UTC) Lhd31 (talk)

bibliography for suggested changes:

Anderson, Melinda D. "The Ongoing Battle Over Ethnic Studies." Mar 07 2016. Web. 9 Nov. 2016

"Arizona Teacher Assails Dismantling of Successful Ethnic Studies Program." Targeted News Service. 03 Oct. 2012. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Bryson, Donna, and The A. Press. "Educators , Activists Lobby for Inclusion of Hispanic Studies in the Classroom." Monterey County Herald (California), sec. A,A: 6. March 14 2016. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

"From the Bench: Schools." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom (Online.) 64.5 (2015): 153-5. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"FTRF Report to ALA Council." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom 62.5 (2013): 178-207. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

García, José. "Critical Media Review: Precious Knowledge: Arizona's Battle Over Ethnic Studies." The Urban Review 45.1 (2013): 94-7. Education Database, Research Library. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Herbert, Marion. "Tucson Grapples with Ethnic Studies Ban." District Administration. 48.3 (2012): 32. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Jaeger, Ernest. "Precious Knowledge: Arizona's Battle Over Ethnic Studies." Library Journal 138.14 (2013): 79. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Kunnie, Julian. "Apartheid in Arizona? HB 2281 And Arizona's Denial of Human Rights of Peoples of Color." Black Scholar 40.4 (2010): 16-26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"Law School Professors Pursue Appeal of Tucson Ethnic Studies Ban." Targeted News Service. Apr. 09 2013. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"Modern Language Association Issues Statement on Tucson Book Removals." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom 61.3 (2012): 102-3. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Palazzolo, Joe. "Appeals Court Revives Challenge to Arizona Ban on Ethnic Studies." WSJ. Wsj.com, 7 July 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Reichman, Henry, ed. "Opposition Grows to Tucson Book Removals and Ethnic Studies Ban." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom 61.2 (2012): 1-84. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

"Rejected in Tucson." New York Times. 22 Jan. 2012: 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2016

Sargent, Andrew. "Building Precious Knowledge: An Interview with Documentary Filmmaker Eren Isabel McGinnis." MELUS 36.1 (2011): 195,217,243. Research Library. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Sun-News, Las C. "Airwaves: Maya Vs. Arizona: Diversity Goes on Trial." Las Cruces Sun-News (New Mexico)January 7, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Weston Phippen, J. "How Arizona Gave Rise to Book Smugglers." Jul 17 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Wun, Connie. "More than Precious Knowledge: A Critical Review of Precious Knowledge." JCT (Online) 29.2 (2013): 240-3. Education Database, Research Library. Web. 9 Nov. 2016. ~~~

First Draft of Proposed Changes to Precious Knowledge

Context/Addition to Summary on Page

Precious Knowledge is centered around the Tucson United School District’s Mexican-American Studies (MAS) program, which has been under scrutiny since 2006. The main opponent to the program since this time, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, claimed that the program was “un-American” and that it “taught students to hate white people”. He worked with John Huppenthal, a state legislator, to create a bill that would lead to the end of the Mexican-American Studies program (“Law School Professors”). This proposed bill, HB 2281, spelled out that schools could not include classes/courses that: “promote the overthrow of the United State government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, [and] advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals” (Kunnie). The film follows the students of the MAS program at Tucson High Magnet School and their struggle to keep HB 2281 from becoming law.

AFTER FILM

In 2011, following the events of the film, which ended with governor Jan Brewer passing HB 2281 into law, an audit was performed by the request of Huppenthal, hoping to find reason to throw out the program. However, the audit showed that the program was completely in line with the law (“Law School Professors”). Yet, the results of the audit were ignored, and in early 2012, the Tucson United School District was forced to cut the Mexican-American studies (MAS) program in response to the state’s threat to withhold funds of $14 million if the program were to continue (“Rejected in Tucson”). 

Along with the program, the books that were banned from schools in the TUSD were:

Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales

Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado

500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures edited by Elizabeth Martinez

Message to Aztlan by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuña

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson (Reichman).

In March 2013, Curtis Acosta, a teacher of the MAS program, and other teachers and students of the program brought the issue to court (“Arizona Teacher Assails”) (“Law School Professors”). They challenged the constitutionality of the law that allowed the removal of the MAS program in hopes of overturning it and therefore reinstating the program. The plaintiff took issue with (1) the constitutionality of HB 2281; (2) the fact that there was no “legal justification to eliminate the Mexican-American Studies Program”, for it was in line with the law, evidenced by an audit preformed in 2011; and (3) the vague language of the law, which provided the chance for discriminatory misinterpretation. To the disappointment of Acosta and students, the law remained mostly intact. The court ruled the nullification of only one section which restricted classes "designed for a particular ethnic group," for its infringement on the First Amendment. Unsatisfied with the results, the plaintiff—at this point reduced to two students Korina Lopez and Maya Arce, and father of Maya and director of the MAS program, Sean Arce—filed an appeal (“Law School Professors”). The case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District on July 7, 2015 as Arce v. Douglas, where it was decided to give the plaintiffs a trial in court based on race discrimination. The trial has yet to take place (“From the Bench”).

If not for the controversy and banning of the program in Arizona, the consideration of a Mexican-American Studies program would not have been spread so quickly through school districts in California and Texas (“From the Bench”). The result of this controversy also led Curtis Acosta, former teacher in the TUSD, to start a consulting business in 2013 meant to further spread ethnic studies classes in states like California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington by guiding the creation process and training of such a program in these states (Bryson).

AWARDS

The film received the following recognition:

Audience Favorite and Special Jury Award, San Diego Latino Film Festival, 2011

Honorable Mention in the Best Documentary Category, Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, 2011 (“Precious Knowledge”).

DIRECTORS

Eren Isabel McGinnis and Ari Luis Palos, filmmakers for Precious Knowledge, had a long history of filming documentaries centered on minorities before starting this film. Also, Dos Vatos films, a co-producer of Precious Knowledge, according to McGinnis, “give[s] voice to communities often silenced or stereotyped by mainstream media.” Along with this focus on allowing minority groups to be heard through film, Eren Isabel McGinnis was particularly invested in this film because she had a son attending Tucson High School during the controversy. Furthermore, both filmmakers are of Mexican descent and have a “deep reverence and love of all things Mexican!” (Sargent).

The filmmaker’s goal of the documentary was to promote the Mexican-American Studies program. In order for the film to act as a “counternarrative” to those loudly speaking out against the Mexican-American Studies program, Eren McGinnis stated they intended the film to be “a space for students to speak on this controversy [because] their voices are often left out of the public discourse.” Eren McGinninis compares this cause to the Civil Rights movement, because she says they need, just as the Civil Rights activists needed, “the support of the nation” in order to “fight racism and ignorance.” This film is her attempt at gathering such support. Eren McGinnis also explains the purpose of following individual stories of students as a means to “humanize a large and complicated issue” (Sargent).

Eren McGinnis also revealed the meaning behind the film’s title. “Precious Knowledge” as a reference to the Mayan tenets, taught in the MAS program, which say to “self-reflect (Tezcatlipoca), seek out precious and beautiful knowledge (Quetzalcoatl), begin to act (Huitzilopochtli), and ultimately transform (Xipe Totec).” This title’s focus on Quetzalcoatl—precious knowledge—highlights what the activists in the film are fighting for. The title “Precious Knowledge” and Quetzalcoatl, and its ties with the Aztec’s, is also intended by the filmmakers to remind students of their own deep history in this country and their indigenous ancestors. With this knowledge, Eren McGinnis hopes to support the same message supported by the Mexican-American Studies program that these Mexican-American students “are not ‘outsiders’ or invaders” to this country (Sargent).

Bibliography

"Arizona Teacher Assails Dismantling of Successful Ethnic Studies Program." Targeted News Service. 03 Oct. 2012. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Bryson, Donna, and The A. Press. "Educators , Activists Lobby for Inclusion of Hispanic Studies in the Classroom." Monterey County Herald (California), sec. A,A: 6. March 14 2016. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

"From the Bench: Schools." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom (Online.) 64.5 (2015): 153-5. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Kunnie, Julian. "Apartheid in Arizona? HB 2281 And Arizona's Denial of Human Rights of Peoples of Color." Black Scholar 40.4 (2010): 16-26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

"Law School Professors Pursue Appeal of Tucson Ethnic Studies Ban." Targeted News Service. Apr. 09 2013. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Precious Knowledge. Dir. Eren Isabel McGinnis and Ari Luis Palos. Prod. Dos Vatos Productions, Independent Television Service, Arizona Public Media, and Latino Public Broadcasting. 2011. DVD.

"Precious Knowledge." Zinn Education Project. N.p., 29 Apr. 2016. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

Reichman, Henry, ed. "Opposition Grows to Tucson Book Removals and Ethnic Studies Ban." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom 61.2 (2012): 1-84. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

"Rejected in Tucson." New York Times. 22 Jan. 2012: 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2016

Sargent, Andrew. "Building Precious Knowledge: An Interview with Documentary Filmmaker Eren Isabel McGinnis." MELUS 36.1 (2011): 195,217,243. Research Library. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Lhd31 (talk) 03:55, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

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Final Draft of Proposed Changes to Precious Knowledge

CONTEXT/ADDITIONS TO SUMMARY

Precious Knowledge is centered around the Mexican-American Studies (MAS) program at Tucson, Arizona’s United School District, which has been under scrutiny since 2006. The main opponent to the program since this time, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, claimed in the film that the program was “un-American” and that it “taught students to hate white people”. Horne worked with John Huppenthal, an Arizona state legislator, to create a bill, HB 2281, which stated that schools could not include classes/courses that: “promote the overthrow of the United State government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, [and] advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” Horne and Huppenthal designed this bill believing the program would fall under these conditions and be removed.The film follows the students of the MAS program at Tucson High Magnet School throughout the 2008-2009 school year and their struggle to keep HB 2281 from becoming law. The film concludes with governor Jan Brewer signing HB 2281 into law.

Eren McGinnis, one of the filmmakers, revealed the meaning behind the film’s title in an interview which appeared in the MELUS (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States) journal. “Precious Knowledge” is a reference to the Mayan tenets, taught in the MAS program, which, according to Eren Mcginnis, say to “self-reflect (Tezcatlipoca), seek out precious and beautiful knowledge (Quetzalcoatl), begin to act (Huitzilopochtli), and ultimately transform (Xipe Totec).” This title’s focus on Quetzalcoatl—precious knowledge—highlights what the activists in the film are fighting for. This and other emphases on Aztec heritage throughout the film reveal the intent by the filmmakers to remind students of their history and their indigenous ancestors. With this knowledge, Eren McGinnis hopes to support the same message supported by the Mexican-American Studies program that these Mexican-American students “are not ‘outsiders’ or invaders” to this country.

Furthermore, the students in the film say the program has created a space where they can feel included and not outcasts, which Camille Z. Charles, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, accredits to that fact that it's necessary that students are able to find themselves “in the important parts of [American] history, as well as in the history being made right now.”

In the documentary, the filmmakers included scenes where Tucson Unified School District Superintendent Tom Horne argued that the program bred racial segregation and “treated students separately by ethnicity.” The proponents for the program, however, argued in the film that discrediting and removing the program sends an underlying message that the Mexican-American students and the Mexican-American culture don’t belong in America. Members of the Arizona legislature filed many bills aimed at terminating the MAS program at Tucson Unified School District, based on claims it promoted a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The proposed bills shown in the film were SB 1108, introduced on April 16, 2008, which failed to pass committee, as well as SB 1069, introduced on July 24, 2009, which passed out of committee to be voted on by the full legislature.  

The documentary also featured the teachers and students of the MAS program and their organization of several peaceful protests and rallies against the proposed bills. One such act of protest against SB 1069, which members of the community gathered to run 110 miles from Tucson to the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix. SB 1069 ultimately failed to pass. After this, Tom Horne worked with John Huppenthal to draft HB 2281, which was approved by the full legislature and sent to the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, to approve. The bill was signed into law by Jan Brewer in 2010.  

AFTER FILM

In 2011, following the events of the film an audit was performed by the request of John Huppenthal, hoping to find reason to remove the program. However, the audit’s findings showed that the program was in line with HB 2281 and did not break any of its conditions. Despite the results of the audit, the Arizona state government informed the Tucson United School District that the school district would lose funding of $14 million if the program were to continue. As a result, the Tucson United School District cut the Mexican-American studies (MAS) program in early 2012. 

Along with the program, books were banned from schools in the TUSD for the same claims of being anti-American and breeding resentment toward America, including:

Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales

Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado

500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures edited by Elizabeth Martinez

Message to Aztlan by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuña

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson.

In March 2013, Curtis Acosta, a teacher of the MAS program, and other teachers and students of the program took the issue to federal court. They challenged the legal validity of HB 2281 and its application, with the hope that if it were overturned, the MAS program would be reinstated. The plaintiffs took issue with (1) the constitutionality of HB 2281; (2) the fact that there was no “legal justification to eliminate the Mexican-American Studies Program”, (because it was in line with the law, evidenced by an audit preformed in 2011); and (3) the vague language of the law, which presented opportunity for discriminatory misinterpretation. Ultimately, the federal district court left the law mostly intact. The court nullified only the section of the statute that restricted classes "designed for a particular ethnic group," because it infringed upon the First Amendment. Unsatisfied with the results, the plaintiffs—at this point reduced to two students Korina Lopez and Maya Arce, as well as the director of the MAS program, Sean Arce (also Maya’s father)—filed an appeal. The case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 7, 2015 as Arce v. Douglas. The appellate court decided to return the case to the district court to give the plaintiffs a trial on their claims of racial discrimination. The trial has yet to take place.

The large controversy and banning of the program in Arizona led to a rapid spread of school districts in California and Texas to consider Mexican-American Studies programs. The result of this controversy also led Curtis Acosta, former teacher in the TUSD, to start a consulting business in 2013 meant to further spread ethnic studies classes in the states of California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington by guiding the creation process and training of such a program in these states.

AWARDS

The film received the following recognition:

Audience Favorite and Special Jury Award, San Diego Latino Film Festival, 2011

Honorable Mention in the Best Documentary Category, Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, 2011.

DIRECTORS

Eren Isabel McGinnis and Ari Luis Palos, filmmakers for Precious Knowledge, had a long history of filming documentaries centered on minorities before starting this film. Also, Dos Vatos films, a co-producer of Precious Knowledge, according to McGinnis, “give[s] voice to communities often silenced or stereotyped by mainstream media.” Along with this focus on allowing minority groups to be heard through film, Eren Isabel McGinnis was particularly invested in this film because she had a son attending Tucson High School during the controversy. Furthermore, both filmmakers are of Mexican descent and have a “deep reverence and love of all things Mexican!”

In the MELUS interview, Eren McGinnis also revealed that her and Ari Luis Palos’ goal of the documentary was to promote the Mexican-American Studies program. In order for the film to do this and act as a “counternarrative” to those loudly speaking out against the Mexican-American Studies program, Eren McGinnis stated she and Ari Luis Palos intended the film to be “a space for students to speak on this controversy [because] their voices are often left out of the public discourse.” Eren McGinninis compares this cause to the Civil Rights movement because she says this movement needs, just as the Civil Rights activists needed, “the support of the nation” in order to “fight racism and ignorance.” Eren McGinnis also explains the purpose of following individual stories of students as a means to “humanize a large and complicated issue.”

Works Cited

"Arizona Teacher Assails Dismantling of Successful Ethnic Studies Program." Targeted News

Service. 03 Oct. 2012. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Bryson, Donna, and The A. Press. "Educators, Activists Lobby for Inclusion of Hispanic Studies

in the Classroom." Monterey County Herald (California), sec. A,A: 6. March 14 2016.

Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

"From the Bench: Schools." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom (Online.) 64.5 (2015): 153-5.

ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Kunnie, Julian. "Apartheid in Arizona? HB 2281 And Arizona's Denial of Human Rights of

Peoples of Color." Black Scholar 40.4 (2010): 16-26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29

Oct. 2016.

"Law School Professors Pursue Appeal of Tucson Ethnic Studies Ban." Targeted News Service.

Apr. 09 2013. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.

Precious Knowledge. Dir. Eren Isabel McGinnis and Ari Luis Palos. Prod. Dos Vatos

Productions, Independent Television Service, Arizona Public Media, and Latino Public

Broadcasting. 2011. DVD.

"Precious Knowledge." Zinn Education Project. N.p., 29 Apr. 2016. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

Reichman, Henry, ed. "Opposition Grows to Tucson Book Removals and Ethnic Studies Ban."

Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom 61.2 (2012): 1-84. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W.

Wilson). Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

"Rejected in Tucson." New York Times. 22 Jan. 2012: 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29

Oct. 2016

Sargent, Andrew. "Building Precious Knowledge: An Interview with Documentary Filmmaker

Eren Isabel McGinnis." MELUS 36.1 (2011): 195,217,243. Research Library. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.

Lhd31 (talk) 03:11, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

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Lhd31 (talk)