According to this logic, Jesus and the Bible are ridiculous, too.
Among other things, this piece exposes the link between efficiency discourses, the narrowing of curricula, and racism.
Angela Valenzuela
c/s
Arizona Lawmaker’s Bill Would BAN Taxpayer Funding Of Ridiculous Social Justice Classes
9:08 AM 01/06/2017
“Arizona shall not educate nor judge an individual based upon their religion, political affiliation, social class, gender, ethnicity, race or by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” Thorpe’s bill begins.
As such, the proposed legislation continues, Arizona “shall not provide funding or facilities” for any course or class which “violates civil rights laws” or “promotes division or resentment” based on an individual’s “ethnicity, race gender, religion, political affiliation or social class.”
The law, if eventually enacted, would also prevent government funding for coursework which “advocates solidarity or isolation based upon ethnic, racial, gender or social class instead of treating individuals as unique.” Also verboten would be any taxpayer-funded course which “negatively targets specific nationalities or countries, such as but not limited to Israel.”
A second section of the bill would require that college students receive notices of employment statistics for all courses they take. Under this part of the bill, all state-funded colleges and universities would be required to provide students with national employment statistics “associated with the majority of students who have successfully completed the course of study or degree” and a warning that “participation in classes may not result in a student’s employability.”
Thorpe’s bill also deliberately notes that it is not meant to “restrict or prohibit” students from “engaging in academic exercises that may have little or no marketable skills or measurable worth to themselves, an employer or to society.”
A third section of the bill provides several exemptions. They include courses “that accurately discuss controversial aspects of history,” “instruction about the Holocaust or any other instance of genocide” and “courses or classes that accurately discuss controversial aspects of history.”
Thorpe has crafted the bill, he says, because he wants to ensure that Arizona taxpayers aren’t funding courses which promulgate any sort of discrimination or racial isolation.
“It seems like racially insensitive agendas are occurring in higher education,” Thorpe told The Daily Caller. “The trend is very troubling.”
“We are getting far away from the accomplishments that began with the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” he said.
The Civil Rights Act is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on race, national origin, religion and sex.
Thorpe notes that Arizona’s colleges and universities would, of course, remain free to offer whatever courses they want. However, taxpayers would no longer have to subsidize courses which contravene the language of the bill.
“If professors and universities want to teach these courses, the taxpayers don’t have to pay for it,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe pointed specifically to a course called “U.S. Race Theory and the Problem of Whiteness” which was offered in 2015 at Arizona State University. The course was taught by Lee Bebout, an English professor who also dabbles in “Chicana/o studies,” American Studies and critical race theory. (RELATED: Wacky White Supremacists Spar With Wacky White Professor Over ‘Problem Of Whiteness’)
Bebout’s Facebook page is a museum-worthy hothouse of harebrained far-left ideas. His many Facebook likes include Whiteness studies, Whiteskins, Black Lives Matter and “The Souls of White Folk: African American Writers Theorize Whiteness” (a book). He also likes Being Liberal, Wendy Motherfucking Davis, Antonio Gramsci and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Thorpe also notes the University of Arizona’s “privilege walk.” The “privilege walk” is not a course but it is an event proudly sponsored by the taxpayer-funded school’s department of residence life. Leaders of the event ask students to step forward or backward based on their life experiences. For example, “if your family took vacations out of your hometown growing up, take a step forward.” And “if your school was conducted in a language that was not your first language, take one step back.”
Thorpe believes taxpayers should not have to pay for courses like “U.S. Race Theory and the Problem of Whiteness” or for “privilege walks.”
“The courses don’t represent the values of Arizonans. They certainly don’t represent my values,” he told TheDC. “The citizenry should have some voice in what is taught at universities and what is not.”
“I am mindful that citizens are paying for these courses. They roll their eyes at these courses. We should respect that,” Thorpe also said.
“The way these classes are set up is that people are judged not because of the content of their character.”
Thorpe has not indicated when he will submit the bill for consideration by his statehouse colleagues.
Arizona already has a law on the books which prohibits certain academic coursework. Back in 2013, federal court Judge A. Wallace Tashima, a Clinton appointee, ruled that a Tucson Mexican-American studies program promoted promoted “racial resentment against ‘Whites'” and, further that elected officials could constitutionally make laws against the teaching of racial resentment in taxpayer-funded public schools. (RELATED: Federal Judge: Arizona Can Ban Classes Promoting ‘Racial Resentment Against ‘Whites’)
Shortly after Tashima’s ruling, the Tucson school board voted to bring back the very books that teachers used in the judicially smacked-down Mexican-American studies program. The texts requested by teachers included “Occupied America,” “Message to Aztlan” and “Chicano!” (RELATED: Tucson School District Just Can’t Quit Racist Curriculum)
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