Critical Media Review: Precious Knowledge: Arizona’s Battle Over Ethnic Studies

Abstract

Precious Knowledge is a documentary about the struggle to establish and save the Mexican–American Studies (MAS)/Ethnic Studies program in Arizona’s Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). The documentary focuses on three main themes: the reasons for the establishment of MAS along with an explanation of the program’s pedagogical approach and its impact on student achievement; the attempts by former Superintendent of Instruction Tom Horne and former State Senator John Huppenthal to outlaw MAS; and the student and community mobilizations to save and reestablish the program. The documentary prominently features the impact of MAS’s pedagogical approach on high school students by featuring the experiences of Crystal, Pricila, and Gilbert. In the MAS program the students learned the history of Chicanos/as in the Southwest, were exposed to literature based on Chicano/a experiences in the United States, and participated in art programs that encouraged the development of youth art forms, such as hip hop and graffiti, along with mariachi and ballet folklorico classes. More importantly, the program encouraged the students to, in the words of teacher Jose Gonzalez, paraphrasing Paulo Freire (2000), ‘‘Read the word to read the world.’’ The MAS pedagogical approach portrayed in the documentary transformed the students’ educational and life experiences. One of the reasons for the establishment of MAS was the need to address the high dropout rates and alienation amongst Latinos in the TUSD schools. Augustine Romero stated that throughout the country, approximately 50 % of Latino students drop out and that these numbers keep getting worse every year. Romero explained that the perpetuation of an inadequate educational experience is behind the high drop out rates. He further explained that policy makers use second grade data from children of color to determine how many prisons will be built in the future. The data gathered by TUSD Director of Accountability and Research, David Scott (2011),