Don't Let the Ban Stand on Heritage Teaching - Ban American History - PERIOD

Arizona Gov Brewer signed HB 2281 into law, a bill that prohibits schools from teaching classes designed to teach students of color about their heritage and history because such classes promote resentment and encourage students to want to “overthrow” the U.S. government. Such classes, the bill says, advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating students as individual people. Irregardless of this law - it is clear that Arizona shows not value in understanding the diversity of the people that make up the United States. 

Well, everyone that allows this bill to stand as is, is forgetting that American History classes do the very SAME thing.  In fact, they teach us that Europeans were the "blessed" people and that Native Americans were savages.  They neglect to mention how so much land was stolen from the Native Americans by these same people. They taught us that the colonists that were slave holders were "building a nation" without stating that the nation was built on the backs of indentured African people.  Biased news reporting continues to depict the slaves, negros, blacks, african americans, etc., as well as other "minorities, as people of lesser value, lesser significance, lesser importance., etc. (In fact, the true minority is the white male - and it is high time we get the definition changed to depict this! But - that's for a later blog.)

All people of color should come forward to fight to outlaw ALL history classes - if this Arizonan law stands.  History teaching could continue to be an elective.  It certainly is critical to your personal development, and we, the people, should develop and maintain an awareness of our history. But, history serves very little value in your professional development, except that history that is critical to your field of study.