Shakespeare Banned in Tuscon School District

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Woodrat

Guest
Original poster
Recieved an e-mail from one of my Professors that I had a hard time accepting as truth at first. But did a little digging on the web. Suprised to find that it might very well be occuring.

Original e-mail recieved.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jackie Mahendra, Change.org <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 10:50 AM
Subject: Of all the authors to ban... Shakespeare?
To: XXXXX


Dear XXXX,

Arizona lawmakers banned schools in the state from teaching "ethnic studies" classes. Unless public schools canceled classes that included racial and ethnic themes, the state could block schools from receiving millions of dollars in critical classroom funding.

But Arizona state officials pushed one school district too far: Tucson Unified School District not only cancelled its vibrant ethnic studies classes, but also banished any book that dealt with "race or oppression."

As a result, students and teachers say dozens of books -- including Shakespeare's The Tempest -- can no longer be taught in class, and some have even been removed from classrooms and locked up in school storage.

Now students and teachers are fighting back in order to draw attention to the ban and keep those valuable books available in schools. Norma Gonzalez is a teacher in the Tucson school district whose class about Mexican American culture was canceled after the state's ban.She started a petition on Change.org asking the Tucson school district to take the banished books out of storage and put them back in school libraries. Click here to sign her petition.

Arizona has been a hotbed of controversy for the nation's immigration debate. But a secondary casualty of what many see as the state's intense anti-immigrant focus has been Arizona's students. For many of these students, ethnic studies courses were proven to close the achievement gap like nothing else had.

Norma sees the ban unfairly hurting her students' education. "Before the ban, I taught my students that, regardless of where you come from, you deserve respect and should love who you are," Norma said. "Now, I can't teach that. My students are angry and confused because they see the ban for what it is: discriminatory."

The literary purgatory of Tucson's school storage facilities now contains dozens of books that have race as a central theme. In addition to the boxed-up books about Chicano and Mexican American history and literature, classics by authors like Thoreau, Shakespeare, and Atwood are seen as too controversial by school officials.

Many are fighting to repeal the ban completely, but the school board fears the state may pull $15 million in funding in response. While several students are fighting a lawsuit to challenge this ban, many books are still stored away. Norma and her fellow teachers want to make sure the banished books are made available in each school's library, so students can read the books that teachers are barred from teaching.

Click here to add your name to Norma's petition asking the Tucson school district to immediately take these books out of boxes and put them back on school shelves.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Jackie and the Change.org team


Not too suprising a somewhat large lack of coverage by mainstream media but I did find some links to this issue.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-04/...endent-ethnic-studies-tucson-program?_s=PM:US

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-Arizona-schools-law-bans-ethnic-studies.html

http://articles.nydailynews.com/201...k-ban-mexican-american-studies-ethnic-studies

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/us/july-dec10/arizona_12-24.html

So what do my fellow Iwakuans think? Should Ethnic Studies not be taught in the classroom? Should we ban any book that deals with race and oppression?
 
This, my friend, is my rage face.

I may not be a fan of Shakespeare, but that's not really the point, is it? Banning any study of ethnic culture? Why? Because, like two years ago, they're trying to axe out the Hispanic community. This will likely go before the supreme court and be ruled unconstitutional. And if it isn't it should be.
 
Let's also ban discussion of anything regarding segregation or suffrage movement and get rid of those pesky world history and current world problem classes too!
 
Who needs Languages, anyways? They'll never, ever help you in the future!
 
What the fuck is that bullshit. o____o


Are we back in the 1920s or something?
 
Not yet. Next we need to be able to hang people for the color of their skin.

This shit is pretty sick though. We're definitely heading that direction, it seems. Oh, and from now on women cannot learn.
 
To hell with this. *remodels her house into an entire kitchen and watches the presidential candidate due to her lack of suffrage*
 
sux to be you guyz.


srsly tho:

This is denying history ever happened, which is a very dangerous road. What you're saying is nothing about slavery, the holocaust... all those lessons history provides will not be taught and so you open the doors to repetition.

When you guys need me to kick nazi ass in 2039... I'll be 51 and ready with a rifle in my hands.
 
Vay....get your powerfeet, we have some cocks to knock

*Hefts the powersack of power doorknobs*

I shall not stop until every arizona lawmaker is sterile and this heresy is repealed, FOR JUSTICE MEN!
 
What sort of fuckery is going on here?

Sounds like it's time for me to start packing my bags.

Torsty, get ready. I'm moving in. :P