I Live in the Stupidest State in the Union

Yes, you heard it here. No, I'm not proud of the fact that Arizona is currently being run by some of the dumbest politicians, some of the rudest, boorish, know-nothing people to wear business suits. Right now, I'll point out everyone's friend to the death of education, Tom Horne, the Superintendent of Public Education. I first came in contact with Tom Horne (and it's about as far-off as it gets) when he was the keynote speaker at my commencement ceremony at Northern Arizona University in May of 2008. He came up not to extol the virtues of the graduates who sat in front of him. No, Horne decided to talk to us all about why the AIMS testing was great, and how dare anyone tell him differently. For those of you who are unaware, the AIMS tests are a set of standardized tests that students in Arizona schools must take if they want to graduate high school. The tests are (without going into the technical details) very much out of wack and poor arbiters of a person's knowledge. Moreover, what students learn before the AIMS tests are simply meant to make sure they don't flunk the damn things.

So Tom Horne chose his bully pulpit to talk about the AIMS test. Now, I'm not a teacher. My wife is, but I'm not. We were both graduating that day, and I can assume that not everyone in that stadium where we got our diplomas were teachers. I realize that Horne's got education (or the complete lack thereof) on the brain, but maybe it'd be wise to not spend his time talking about it until his face turns blue. Why? Because we get stories like the recent one, where Horne publicly pushes a bill that would rid the Tucson school district of Raza studies, or Chicano studies. Or....ethnic studies. Tom Horne wants to ban ethnic studies. He has already gotten rid of some women's studies courses (and thinks this is a badge of honor, because he is a heartless fiend), and now wants to rid us of ethnic studies.

Of course, I'm being unfair. Tom Horne just wants to get rid of SOME ethnic studies courses. If it's about America, go right ahead. If it's about white people, knock yourselves out. If it's about white men, go crazy. But if we dare learn about the struggles and plights of women or people of color, hold on. Horne has said that the Raza studies would, as all ethnic studies do, promote "ethnic chauvinism." The bill has said that "public school pupils should be taught to treat and value each others as individuals and not based on ethnic backgrounds." I will let you do the math on the fact that Horne's comments ARE ethnic chauvinism (because, and it may come as a big fucking shock, white people have an ETHNIC BACKGROUND) and that the bill's language is arguing against....what it's arguing for--ethnic background is part of one's individuality, fuckers.

Just remember...I live in the stupidest state in the union.