Proposed Texas textbook characterizes Mexican-Americans as lazy

Parents Forum
21

@hanna - that’s even more despicable. Just…yuck.

22

A little off topic but- Do high schools outside of Texas offer a Mexican-American studies class? I have never heard of this at the high school level. Texas History classes (required in middle school) spend a great deal of time on Mexico/Texas, so I am not saying it is not covered at all in Texas but not a separate class. Are Mexican-American Studies common?

23

^ Most high school curricula include the topic as part of 'regular ’ history. The class was added because the Texas board had removed Mexican American /Latino history from the ‘regular’ curriculum (some said 'whitewashed ’ history.)

24

Utterly disgraceful. No doubt the people who approve of this textbook are the same ones who are quite happy to let those same “lazy” people mow their lawns, look after their children, clean their homes, prepare and serve their food in restaurants, build their houses, and on and on.

25

I question whether Mexican American/Latino history is covered in detail in any regular American history course. In Texas, it is probably covered more than most because the kids are required to take Texas history numerous times but the majority of coverage is the war between Mexico and the US for the Texas territory. This textbook was for a new elective class that would offered to HS students. @Hanna may be right in saying that the textbook was so slanted and incorrect to be uncorrectable with the result being this class would not offered at least for now.

26

Yes, Mexican-American Studies courses in high school have come up elsewhere. Tucson created a successful experiment implementing a course for seniors in part as a way to fight high dropout rates. Students wanted to take the course, and it motivated them to stay in school. The State of Arizona passed a law in 2010 banning ethnic studies courses. Everyone understood that the law was a way to attack the Tucson school system and this program in particular. The fight went on and on…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/07/arizona-mexican-american-studies_n_7748102.html