AZ bans ethnic studies classes and teachers with accents can no longer teach English.

[AtomicKitten]

AZ is doubling down on the crazy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/arizona-ethnic-studies-cl_n_558731.html

Arizona's new immigration law is just about crime, its supporters say, but given that the state's new education policy equates ethnic studies programs with high treason, they may not be using the commonly accepted definition of "crime."

Under the ban, sent to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer by the state legislature Thursday, schools will lose state funding if they offer any courses that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

As ThinkProgress notes, the Tucson Unified School District's popular Mexican-American studies department is the target here. The state superintendent charges that the program exhibits "ethnic chauvinism."

Meanwhile, in a move that was more covert until the Wall Street Journal uncovered it, the Arizona Department of Education has told schools that teachers with "heavy" or "ungrammatical" accents are no longer allowed to teach English classes.

As outlined by the Journal, Arizona's recent pattern of discriminatory education policies is ironic -- and is likely a function of No Child Left Behind funding requirements -- given that the state spent a decade recruiting teachers for whom English was a second language.

-snip-

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Either Ariz gov. thinks it has enough money to win countless law suits
or
thinks it has enough racist white supremacists in the courts to win.

[DrDan]

2. what is an "ungrammatical" accent?

[Richard D]

6. I don't really know . . .

. . . but it sure rules out sarah crazy from ever teaching there.

[miscsoc]

10. there's no such thing, they mean dialect

It's amazing how the most frenzied defenders of the english language hardly ever actually seem to have much of a grasp of it.

THIS IS ARE COUNTRY SPEAK ENGLISH

[DrDan]

15. that was my first thought . . . dialect with a goal of targeting specific races . . .

[EFerrari]

11. Sound doesn't have an essential grammar.

Dumb@sses.

[JackRiddler]

17. Whatever it is, the phrase is syntactically false.

An accent cannot be grammatical or ungrammatical.

And thus ironic. Subtler than "Get a Life Morans" but from the same rich vein of Orwellian paradoxes of the mentally impaired.

[county worker]

3. I guess it is time to get some kind of patch to put on the people who can no longer

live their lives as the want. Talk about losing freedoms. This reminds me of the Diary of Anne Frank where she talks about what Jews were no longer permitted to do.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Bostonians and Londoners need not apply.

It's not about race, donchya know.

[EFerrari]

5. Laura Flanders said she has to avoid Arizona because she has an accent.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Well, she better avoid getting a tan...

Coupled with an accent, other than southern, she might find herself in Juarez.

[miscsoc]

8. that prohibition on promoting resentment of "particular classes of people" seems damned fishy to me

i can't see how you can honestly teach history without promoting resentment against certain classes

i assume the rationale between putting that in there is to ban any criticism of laissez fair capitalism as "discriminatory" against the ruling classes.

[pnwmom]

9. At least that rules out Sarah Palin. n/t

[rurallib]

12. screechy voices that sound like fingernails on a blackboard also banned?

[DeschutesRiver]

13. And yet I saw a thread asking people not to boycott Arizona

While I totally understand where that AZ poster was coming from, there is no way that a normal thinking person shouldn't put as much distance between them and the racially motivated hatred crazy that is engulfing this state.

In rapid succession, we had the papers, please law, then the birther law, and now they hope to have the "stop any classes that might scare white people" law. It is likely to start getting much more interesting as the legislature continues to get creative about the many ways they can try to protect the white skinned people from the brown skinned people.

I have had it. I am not going to visit AZ. I am not going to buy a damned product that has any connection with AZ, no matter how remote. If the majority aren't willing to shut down their capital streets until something is immediately resolved, then I have to assume the majority are in favor of this, and therefore it is no place that I would like to visit, support or be associated with in the future.

Dh and I had talked about going for a trip, to see what it was like maybe for an extended stay. Not possible to even consider any more, at least at this point in time.

[AtomicKitten]

18. I have a lot of family in Arizona.

My uncle is Chief of Police of a big city in AZ and his son, my cousin, is City Manager of another big city (cities not named for anonymity).

I haven't spoken with them because I would be crushed if they are in agreement. Looks like they'll be visiting us in California because I too won't step foot in AZ after this mess.

[DeschutesRiver]

19. Oh no, that is such a bad position to be in

I think, like you, I'd rather not know. You are in a tough spot.

I was trying to think rationally about this whole issue at first, because a lot of innocent people often get caught up in messes like this, and I hate doing things that might add to their suffering. My heart hurts for them.

But my head says, "well, get tough early on then, and maybe somehow if enough people do it too, this thing won't keep escalating." I did just hear something on msnbc about a change having been made to the papers, please law today in response to the uproar over it. Didn't catch what it was, but I thought they said whatever change it was still didn't go far enough to fix it. Am keeping my ears open to see if I hear it again.

Hope things work out for the better on this issue, for all of us, and soon.

[Maat]

26. I'm sort of in the same spot, only not with Arizona.

Hubby's family all moved to Oklahoma; I'm sure that they are in favor of the new anti-female, anti-choice legislation. I'm not even going to ask. I'll let him talk to them.

[Xicano]

14. In Other Words Arizona Only Wants To Teach About White Culture And Ignore All Other Cultures?

Sounds like if they can get away with it they want to go back to this ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIGB-AM_Zq0

[AsahinaKimi]

16. Arizona just pushed themselves back into the 1800's with this bill...

Stupid idiots. Are they going to "deport" Native Americans too?

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. OMG

The stupid never stops.

[SoCalDem]

21. I agree whole heartedly..

I am sick to death of hearing that damned put-on antebellum drawl that so many people still seem to have:evilgrin:

and if I hear "Ahh-teh-ll-yoo-wut" one more time, I'll scream :rofl:

The nascar/good-ole-boy accent is the vilest accent ever

[MajorChode]

22. They are just setting themselves up for a class action EEO lawsuit

Excluding people based on their accent is discrimination based on natural origin and is a prohibited personnel practice per the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

They will get sued and the Arizona taxpayers will have to foot the bill.

[EFerrari]

24. That is what they're doing -- trying to roll back the Civil Rights Movement. n/t

[MajorChode]

25. I think they are just pandering to their bigotted constituency

They know such moves will fail and be costly to the state, but they don't care because they know it will get them reelected. It's just like the town of Farmer's Branch near where I live. They keep passing laws they know will get invalidated by the judicial system, but are popular with their voters who are too fucking stupid to figure out they are paying millions in tax dollars to fight losing battles.

[fishwax]

23. Arizona appears to have sprung a sizable "stupid leak"

I wonder how long it will take to plug that thing ...