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Horne: We must renew our focus on academics

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Liberals in Arizona are breaking down the pillars to a good education. They want to coddle students, not teach them.

They promote liberal ideology like critical race theory, which is a bunch of nonsense.

And instead of Spanish-speaking students being forced to learn English, they want to return to bilingual education, which leaves most students unable to be fluent in English, which means they cannot succeed in this country.

I want to bring conservative values back to education. Promote academic achievement, not mediocrity. Keep our schools open. Our children deserve a brighter future.

When I was superintendent of public instruction, my focus was on academic achievement; I was a crusader against mediocrity, laziness, and political indoctrination as a substitute for academic teaching.

Since I left office, much of my work has been undone. Political agendas have taken the place of a focus on academics, and this is damaging to the students. I feel compelled to bring the focus back to academic achievement.

1. Critical Race Theory runs rampant

Critical race theory propagandizes students with false history. It has been spreading in our schools. I put a stop to it when I was superintendent. But it came back.

It is unprofessional for teachers to use their classrooms to force-feed this kind of propaganda to young, impressionable students. We have licensing laws that should be used to prevent this kind of abuse of the classroom.

Critical theory leads to mediocrity, as academics are sacrificed to propaganda.

2. Put an end to ‘ethnic studies’

Ethnic Studies in Tucson divided students by race: African American students to Classroom 1, Mexican American students to Classroom 2, etc., just like in the old South. The students were taught “critical race theory.” This is their quote: “Unlike traditional civil rights, which embraces incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundation of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.”

Teachers should not be teaching our students to be opposed to Enlightenment rationalism and neutral principles of constitutional law. Ethnic Studies had a table that promulgates racial stereotypes by detailing the differences between “white individualism” (e.g. “white people interrupt a lot”) and “colored collectivism.”

I wrote a bill that the Legislature passed, prohibiting this kind of ethnic chauvinism in our schools. First as superintendent, and then as attorney general, I pursued the legal process under the statute, and this toxic program was eliminated.

After I was no longer attorney general, a liberal Ninth Circuit judge declared our statute unconstitutional. Now that we have a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court, we should try again so that our schools will focus on academics, and not on propagandizing students with what the teachers themselves describe as a neo-Marxist philosophy.

3. Bilingual education

The current Superintendent of Schools is pushing for a return to bilingual education instead of English immersion.

This is not reasonable: The landmark study showed that students in English immersion out performed students in bilingual in college admission, average income, and admission to high-status occupations (by almost 2 to 1).

A pathetic 4% of students in bilingual became proficient in English in a year. At that rate, almost none of the students would ever become proficient in English.

After I began enforcing the requirement for structured English immersion, the percentage increased to 29%, which meant almost all students would become proficient in English within 3 to 4 years.

4. Academics

When I left office Arizona students performed above the national average on all three SAT tests. No longer. We need a renewed focus on academics.

Editor’s note: Republican Tom Horne is a candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Public Education in Arizona August Primary election.