Precious Knowledge = Precious Minds

 

The film we watched this week, Precious Knowledge, was very moving. The year is 2011 in Tucson, Arizona. The up and coming issue is in the Tucson Unified School District. They are being told to shut down their Ethnic Studies Program. This is Crystal. She is rallying for this program at her high school.  Crystal is one of many Mexican Americans who attend school because they are "supposed to", not because they want to. This program is one that actually gave these students the "hope" they were looking for, or needed.

The Arizona State Superintendent, Tom Horne, made a public announcement which called on the "Tucson Unified School District to shut down the Ethnic Studies Program and start teaching kids to treat each other as individuals, not on the basis of what race they were born into. The chanting behind us illustrates the rudeness they teach to their kids." When a person of power gets up to address the public before him, I believe it is respect that for your audience that should be present. This man spoke extremely disrespectfully to this crowd. He showed ignorance. The following quote speaks volumes.

"Ignorance is always afraid of change."   

Jawaharlal Nehru

I believe that Superintendent Tom Horne was fearful of what these people (Mexican Americans) might learn. I think he wanted to just strip them of any chance to think on their own. This program taught students about their culture and history. The program, which used to have the highest dropout rate for any ethnic group (50%), now students in this program are showing significant improvement in Arizona Standardized Tests. Also, the graduation rate for students taking this program averages 93% with 85% attending college. 

It is evident in the documentary that these teachers have passion about what/who/why they are teaching these students about their past. Students like "Gilbert", another highlighted student, states, "When you grow up in a poor area, you don't have the same chances as the others do." Once in the Ethnic Studies Program, he began bringing articles of interest home to read again for a second or third time. His interest grew and it flowed over into other courses. Students became engaged learners, thinkers, and producers. This connects with the article written by Gloria Anzaldua, La conciencia de la mestiza, Towards a New Consciousness. She claims that we need to know and understand one another to build unity. She speaks of "a confluence of two or more genetic streams "crossing over" this mixture of races, rather than resulting in an inferior being, provides hybrid progeny...with a rich gene pool. This "alien" consciousness is of the Borderlands."  This is also true of classrooms. When students learn to know and understand others backgrounds, they form more of an understanding/appreciation for one another, bonds will form and a community shapes itself...in the classroom. 

The root to a successful future for our students starts with us, their teachers. We need to provide the  "hope for the Gilberts" of the world. Just like in Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade's article Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete,where teachers give students a voice, a reason to join in, engage in critical thinking debates/conversations and give students a HOPE for their future.