October 9, 2012
Sean Arce to deliver lecture on Thursday
A teacher involved in the recent Arizona controversy over the teaching of ethnic studies in Tucson schools will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, in Town Hall at Kansas State University's Leadership Studies Building.
Sean Arce, former head of the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies program, will give the lecture “Ethnic Studies Banned in Arizona: An Effective Pedagogy and Curriculum for Latina/o Students."
Arce’s lecture will discuss the recent legislation passed in Arizona that has effectively eliminated the Mexican American Studies program in the Tucson school district. The program had received national praise and honor for its effectiveness in retaining and graduating Latino students, preparing them for college, critically engaging them in education and learning, and successfully encouraging involvement in the community.
Arce is the 2012 recipient of the Myles Horton Education Award for Teaching People’s History from the Zinn Education Project.
“We are glad to be able to use funds from the Dow Center for Multicultural and Community Studies to partner with the American Ethnic Studies program and the women's studies and English departments to bring Sean Arce to K-State,” said Melia Fritch, undergraduate and community services librarian at K-State Libraries. “We have a display of the curricular materials in question up in the center currently. The events in Arizona should be of interest to anyone involved in secondary education, ethnic studies and issues of governance in our schools.”
Arce’s talk is free and open to the public. For more information about the event or related materials in K-State Libraries, contact Fritch.