Raza Studies: I Came, I Lied, I Griped

Digger's Realm wrote a very thorough review about the textbooks of "Raza studies." The curriculum used in the Tucson Unified School District can be summed up thusly: USA is the bully. Mexico is the picked-on underdog.

Raza Studies stirs up students, especially those with anti-American chips on their shoulders, with incendiary rhetoric and flat-out lies.

For instance, I was perusing Chapter 12 of Occupied America: A History of Chicanos (fifth edition) by Rodolfo Acuña - the section called the 'Militarization of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.' Writes Acuña (offering zero evidence) about a period in 1953 when one Joseph Swing was appointed INS commish: "Local police actively supported the INS. During the raids, U.S.-born citizens became entangled in the web. Every brown person was suspect. The INS agents searched homes illegally, and they seized and detained U.S. citizens illegally."

Every brown person? Illegal searches? Puh-leeze.

Earlier this year the Arizona legislature passed HB 2281 which ended the Tuscon program. The law goes into effect on December 31st. However, an outfit called "Save Ethnic Studies" is suing to have the Raza Studies program reinstated. Jim Kouri has the details.

More education nonsense: A University of South Carolina prof will be offering a course called “Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame.” Professor Mathieu Deflem (pictured), who teaches sociology, says the "class will encompass multiple readings about music, pop culture, sex and gender, among many other topics." If you think this is a waste of taxpayer funds and believe a mind is a terrible thing to waste, please write to the prof and tell him so, at deflem@sc.edu.

Update: Eagle Forum on "Texas Rejects Islamic Bias in Textbooks."