The day after several hundred students from Tucson, Pueblo and Cholla high schools walked out in protest of the Tucson Unified School District’s dismantling of Mexican American Studies, the student-led group UNIDOS held a School of Ethnic Studies today at the El Casino Ballroom, 437 East 26th St. until 2:45 p.m. live streaming on Upstream this very moment.

Press release from UNIDOS:

Educators from our community, colleges, community organizations and alumni of Mexican American Studies will be presenting their messages and stories about why Ethnic Studies is still alive, active and transforming. Youth and community members are invited to be the first registered participants in our ongoing campaign to create autonomous learning environments for and within our community.

TUSD and the State of Arizona are unaccountable to our needs.

While the institution continues to fail us, the community continues to rise. Ethnic Studies is abolished inside the gates of our schools but not the streets of our community. Education is ours, from the roots our knowledge will continue to grow with autonomous education.

UNIDOS presents: School of Ethnic Studies, an important step to reclaiming our education!

By creating our own school, we will have the space to learn our history, culture and contributions. Our education will continue, with or without TUSD approval. Rincon High School Ethnic Studies alumni Mayra Rincon states, “We work to ensure that our culture and history live on. It is time for creation, taking our education into our own hands.”
Demands:

• We demand the State immediately withdraw the ban on Ethnic Studies!
• We have the right to culture, history, identity, language, and education!
• We want an educational experience where all cultures fit!

This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.

One reply on “UNIDOS’ School of Ethnic Studies”

  1. All studies are important.

    In our public schools we are being forced to recognize that the state of
    Arizona does not have infinite deep monetary pockets. A pragmatic stance
    of accepting the reality of our need to balance all the wants and needs of
    the public education sector…thats what law and order is all about, thats
    what our counstitution is all about.

    In that setting lets strive to give our public school student all the
    education/traing that our studends need to suvive. And the best mechanism
    or way for us to give all our children the education/training that we see
    fit is to give parents Vouchers to educate/train their child as they see
    fit in a public, private, home schooling mix.

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