MLA doesn’t like TUSD’s style

by David Safier

I don't know if it's still in fashion, but when I was an English major, we were told our papers should be written using the MLA (Modern Language Association) Style Sheet. You might think a hidebound organization like that (founded in 1883) which works to create a basic stylistic consistency might object to all these new-fangled, "inconsistent" views of language and history like, say, ethnic studies courses. Not so.

In an MLA opinion piece, Ethnic Studies courses, books are scholarly, not political (h/t to the Tucson Sentinel for publishing it), the organization takes a strong stand for TUSD's Mexican American Studies program alongside other ethnic studies programs.

Our beliefs about ethnic studies and about curricular reform generally have been formed by forty years of scholarly research, informed debate, and open-ended discussion. As an organization devoted to the study of language and literature, the MLA is allied with primary and secondary school educators who teach in this field and who participate in the long project of questioning and undoing the biases of the traditional curriculum, which for many years ignored or demeaned the histories and cultures of people deemed "ethnic." We see that project as central to the mission of American education at all levels. As former MLA President Sidonie Smith wrote in her 2010 letter to Gov. Brewer, "ethnic studies curricula have provided important gateways for students to learn about the diversity of heritages in the United States, a key educational goal of the liberal arts education that is the bedrock of American higher education. … Policies that curtail this vision will weaken the quality of education."

[snip]

We urge all relevant Arizona officials — Gov. Brewer, Superintendent Huppenthal, Judge Kowal, and President Stegeman — to reconsider these rulings, reverse these decisions, and reaffirm the freedom of inquiry on which an open society must depend.

It looks like the 129 year old Modern Language Association has thrown in with that known radical organization, the American Library Association, in condemning TUSD for dropping the MAS courses.