Julio Cammarota is a professor at the Mexican American Studies and Research Center at the University of Arizona, director of the Social Justice Education Project and a board member of the National Latino/a Education Research Agenda Project.

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The National Latino/a Education Research Agenda Project began in 2000 as a national initiative to promote innovative, community-based research and programs to meet the needs of Latina/o students within the United States.

The project's board is composed of several nationally recognized scholars who have made significant contributions to the development of Latina/o education. We have also produced an important volume on the topic: "Latino Education: An Agenda for Community Action Research."

Our most recent review of the current state of Latina/o education has led to the revelation of the success of the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American/Raza Studies program. Throughout the eight years of studying and writing about the national landscape of Latina/o education, we have encountered few public school examples that actually match the TUSD program's capacity to improve Latina/o students' educational experiences and thus academic achievements.

Research supports the Raza Studies approach of immersing students in a culturally and historically relevant curriculum that engages them in learning by recognizing their families and communities' contributions to the development and progress of American society. Any exclusion from the historical record signifies to students that they too are excluded, and thus their thoughts and ideas are irrelevant to their own success and the success of this country.

We were shocked to learn that Arizona legislator Russell Pearce has proposed a bill, Senate Bill 1108, that would effectively remove state funding from any public school course not promoting "American values, capitalism and the teachings of Western Civilization." This bill also takes aim against any education that "overtly encourages dissent" or "denigrates American values."

Those courses deemed "un-American" would be forced to surrender materials to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. Another provision of SB 1108 bans any organization in public schools, community colleges or universities "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria."

There is no secret that SB 1108 is Pearce and Horne's attempt to shut down TUSD's Mexican American/Raza studies. 

As a nation, our greatest strength derives from those acts of inclusion inspiring the goodness of our humanity — the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, desegregation, the civil rights movement, bilingual education and multicultural education. Schools that teach to this strength will produce students who are forward-thinking, open-minded and ready to nurture the American citizenry.

TUSD's Mexican American/Raza studies helps students not only to achieve academically but preserves the qualities of an open, inclusive society, notably enshrined in our nation's most revered symbol of freedom — the Statue of Liberty.

This time TUSD's Mexican American/Raza Studies program is holding the light of liberty with its culturally and historically inclusive curriculum. Nothing could be more beneficial to the health of our democratic society than to learn about and hear from the voices of those previously silenced in the traditional, dominant record.

Not only Latina/o students, but all students will jump at the chance to learn if given the proper opportunity to be heard. Let us no longer ignore students and thus diminish their educational opportunities by silencing their past, present, and future contributions.

Following the lead of TUSD's Raza Studies, we must continue to listen to and acknowledge students' multiple and diverse experiences and histories, which will bring them into the fold and allow them to make positive contributions and grow not against but with us.

National Latino/a Education Research Agenda Project members fully support TUSD's Mexican American/Raza Studies program and its approach of valuing and studying students' cultural and historical realities. We are also steadfastly against SB 1108 or any legislation that would ban multicultural, inclusive education.