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Summary Of Precious Knowledge

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“Precious Knowledge” is a documentary about the Mexican-American Studies Program offered to highschool students in Tucson, Arizona (2011). This documentary follows students enrolled in the Mexican-American Studies Program offered at Tucson Magnet High School: Crystal, Pricilla, and Gilbert; as well as the teachers of the Mexican-American Studies courses: Curtis Acosta and Jose Gonzalez. The students and teachers are interviewed throughout the documentary and explain how they are impacted by the program and their activism to keep the program is demonstrated. This film features individuals who opposed the program, such as superintendent Tom Horne and incoming superintendent John Huppenthal. They believed that ethnic studies were racist, promoted …show more content…

It's hard for me to believe that there are people who oppose ethnic studies classes. To me those opposing the Mexican-American Studies Program, such as Tom Horne and John Huppenthal, seemed to have racist or discriminatory underlying reasons to their opposition. As a first generation Mexican-American female, I can relate to the students in those courses who spoke about feeling belittled or unimportant. Classes like the ones offered in the Mexican-American Studies Program do help these students of color, including myself, feel seen and heard. Unfortunately, my high school didn't offer similar classes, so I didn't learn much about my people's history until I got to college. Also the racist nature of the bills to get rid of the Mexican American studies program was clear to me when a group of protesters burned the Mexican flag during a protest, showing extreme disrespect and prejudice which utterly shocked and angered …show more content…

I believe that this is because it exposes the cruel actions of the United States government towards Mexican Americans in the past and teaches us to be strong and fight for what we believe in. The government doesn't want us to know the power we have to make changes. This is not just happening to Mexican Americans, but to all other groups as well. The government wants to teach us only the white-washed version of history and exclude anything that isn't Eurocentric.
After the release of “Precious Knowledge” and the passing of HB 2281, Arizona State warned the Tucson Unified School District that they would lose $14 million in funding if they didn't discontinue the Mexican-American Studies Program. Due to that the program was cut in 2012. Many books were also banned after the HB 2281 bill was put into effect. Some of the books banned were:
“1. 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures edited by Elizabeth

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