| Description |
1 online resource (approximately 70 min.) : sound, color |
| Summary |
"Precious Knowledge reports from the frontlines of one of the most contentious battles in public education in recent memory, the fight over Mexican American studies programs in Arizona public schools. The film interweaves the stories of several students enrolled in the Mexican American Studies Program at Tucson High School with interviews with teachers, parents, school officials, and the lawmakers who wish to outlaw the classes. While 48 percent of Mexican American students currently drop out of high school, Tucson High's Mexican American Studies Program has become a national model of educational success, with 93 percent of enrolled students, on average, graduating from high school and 85 percent going on to attend college. The filmmakers spent an entire year in the classroom filming this innovative curriculum, documenting the transformative impact on students who became engaged, informed, and active in their communities. As the nation turns its focus toward a wave of anti-immigration legislation in Arizona, the issue of ethnic chauvinism becomes a double-edged weapon in a simmering battle making front page news coast to coast. When Arizona lawmakers pass a bill giving unilateral power to the State Superintendent to abolish ethnic studies classes, teachers and student leaders fight to save the program using texts, Facebook, optimism, and a megaphone. Lawmakers and politicians respond with a public relations campaign to discredit the students, claiming that a textbook used in the classes, Paulo Freire's The Pedagogy of the Oppressed teaches victimization and sedition. Officials ask that the classroom's Che Guevara posters be replaced with portraits of founding father Benjamin Franklin. Meanwhile, the students answer back by fighting for what they believe is the future of public education for the entire nation, especially as the Latino demographic continues to grow."--Publisher |
| Analysis |
Human Rights |
|
Race and Class Studies |
| Notes |
Duration: 75 minutes |
|
Title from end credits |
|
Co-production of Dos Vatos Productions and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) ; produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting and Arizona Public Media ; funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting |
| Credits |
Executive producer for ITVS, Sally Jo Fifer ; editor, Jacob Bricca ; composer, Naïm Amor |
| Performer |
Co-production of Dos Vatos Productions and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) ; produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting and Arizona Public Media ; funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting |
| Event |
Originally produced by Dos Vatos in 2011 |
| Notes |
Closed-captioned |
|
San Diego International Latino Film Festival, Audience Favorite; Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival, award winner; New York International Latino Film Festival, official selection |
| Subject |
Tucson High School (Tucson, Ariz.) -- Curricula
|
|
Tucson High School (Tucson, Ariz.) |
|
Mexican Americans -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Arizona -- Tucson
|
|
Mexican American high school students -- Arizona -- Tucson
|
|
Mexican Americans -- Arizona -- Ethnic identity
|
|
Mexican Americans -- Arizona -- Social conditions
|
|
Discrimination in education -- Arizona -- Tucson
|
|
Education and state -- Arizona -- Tucson
|
|
Ethnology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Arizona -- Tucson
|
|
Social conditions
|
|
Ethnic relations
|
|
Discrimination in education
|
|
Education and state
|
|
Education -- Curricula
|
|
Ethnology -- Study and teaching (Secondary)
|
|
Mexican American high school students
|
|
Mexican Americans -- Ethnic identity
|
|
Mexican Americans -- Social conditions
|
|
Mexican Americans -- Study and teaching (Secondary)
|
|
Tucson (Ariz.) -- Ethnic relations
|
|
Tucson (Ariz.) -- Social conditions
|
|
Arizona
|
|
Arizona -- Tucson
|
| Genre/Form |
Streaming video
|
|
documentary film.
|
|
Documentary films
|
|
Feature films
|
|
Nonfiction films
|
|
Video recordings for the hearing impaired
|
|
Documentary films.
|
|
Feature films.
|
|
Nonfiction films.
|
|
Video recordings for the hearing impaired.
|
|
Documentaires.
|
|
Films autres que de fiction.
|
|
Vidéos pour personnes handicapées auditives.
|
| Form |
Streaming video
|
| Author |
Palos, Ari Luis, film director, film producer.
|
|
McGinnis, Eren, film producer.
|
|
Fifer, Sally Jo, film producer.
|
|
Bricca, Jacob, editor of moving image work.
|
|
Amor, Naïm, 1969- composer (expression)
|
|
Dos Vatos Productions, production company.
|
|
Independent Television Service, production company
|
|
Latino Public Broadcasting (Firm), presenter.
|
|
Arizona Public Media, presenter.
|
|
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
|
|
Kanopy (Firm)
|
|
