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PermalinkIndependent Lens: Precious Knowledge
Airs Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV
Above: Crystal leads demonstrations to save the ethnic studies classes in front of Tucson High.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
"Precious Knowledge" reports from the frontlines of one of the most contentious battles in public education in recent memory, the fight over Mexican American studies programs in Arizona public schools. The film interweaves the stories of several students enrolled in the Mexican American Studies Program at Tucson High School with interviews with teachers, parents, school officials, and the lawmakers who wish to outlaw the classes.
Above: Students and community members participate in a traditional ceremonial run from Tucson to Phoenix.
Above: Mexican American/Raza studies student Mariah at an immigrants rights rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
A film by Tucson-based filmmakers Ari Luis Palos and Eren Isabel McGinnis, "Precious Knowledge" will premiere on the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series INDEPENDENT LENS, hosted by Mary-Louise Parker.
While 48 percent of Mexican American students currently drop out of high school, Tucson High’s Mexican American Studies Program has become a national model of educational success, with 93 percent of enrolled students, on average, graduating from high school, and 85 percent going on to attend college.
The filmmakers spent an entire year in the classroom filming this innovative curriculum, documenting the transformative impact on students who became engaged, informed, and active in their communities.
As the nation turns its focus toward a wave of anti-immigration legislation in Arizona, the issue of ethnic chauvinism becomes a double-edged weapon in a simmering battle, making front page news coast to coast.
Above: Arizona State Superintendent Tom Horne calls for the banning of ethnic studies classes in Tucson.
Talkback
Do you think that teaching the history of specific ethnicities promotes a sense among students of their own ethnic superiority? Do you think it is important to dedicate class time to the history of minority groups? Share your thoughts
When Arizona lawmakers pass a bill giving unilateral power to the State Superintendent to abolish ethnic studies classes, teachers and student leaders fight to save the program using texts, Facebook, optimism and a megaphone.
Lawmakers and politicians respond with a public relations campaign to discredit the students, claiming that a textbook used in the classes, Paulo Freire’s "The Pedagogy of the Oppressed" teaches victimization and sedition. Officials ask that the classroom’s Che Guevara posters be replaced with portraits of founding father Benjamin Franklin.
Meanwhile, the students answer back by fighting for what they believe is the future of public education for the entire nation, especially as the Latino demographic continues to grow.
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Comments
SavageFL | May 20, 2012 at 5:04 a.m. ― 12 months ago
Excellent show! What outreach for cultural diversity! It is a shame how Tucson's has failed society by abolishing this gifted man's talents from their children's education curriculum. They have lost a very valuable asset. I urge him to continue in another area where his energies will be met with embrace, and not feeble-minded bigotry. Certainly, his passion will be passed on by those fortunate enough to benefit from his teachings. The world NEEDS this.
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dan_factman | July 16, 2012 at 3:38 p.m. ― 10 months, 1 week ago
This action by the State of Arizona is just the latest in an on-going campaign to ensure the permanency of the underclass. The bigots who control the state government are making sure that there are no boots so that folks can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In other parts of the nation the effort focuses on African Americans. In Arizona it focuses on Latinos. After all we white folk can't let any of them compete with us on a level playing field. Given a fair chance, we've seen that African Americans and Hispanics can succeed at everything -- but if we can deny them a quality education and constantly demean them, then they can be kept down in the permanent underclass. It's how today's GOP has built itself by keeping other folks down.
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