Dive Brief:

• A panel of three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals listened to testimony Monday in a lawsuit led by the state of Arizona against Tucson Unified School District for failing to adhere to 2010 ban on ethnic studies. 
• The lawyer representing the district argued that the 2010 law was discriminatory and should be tossed out while the state's attorney argued ethnic studies courses are "divisive" and encourage segregation.
• The district could lose 10% of its state funding, or $14.2 million, if it loses the case.

Dive Insight:

So what was so awful that the Tuscon district did? Outgoing state Superintendent John Huppenthal called the district out for issues including a hip-hop course taught through an African-American lens and the use of lyrics from the band Rage Against the Machine.  

The state's ethnic studies ban prohibits schools from teaching courses that "promote resentment toward a race or a class of people, are designed primarily for peoples of a particular ethnic group, or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of peoples as individuals," according to the Associated Press. When it first came out in 2010 the district had to end its Mexican-American studies program.

The ban has been highly controversial, not only due to educators and students arguing that it limits their freedom of speech, but because research has shown the academic benefits of such programs. According to the Associated Press, researchers at the University of Arizona found that students who participated in Tucson's ethnic studies program (before it was halted) had higher graduation rates and better test scores.

Additionally, there are questions about what is so bad about letting students embrace their identity or even share it with others so they can learn, as well. The U.S. is nowhere near a post-racial society, and denying students a chance to learn, experience, and interact with rich cultural histories in many ways ignores this fact.