Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction

Tom Horne




Home | Platform

Platform

Critical Race Theory

Critical race theory propagandizes students with false history. It has been spreading in our schools. It is unprofessional for teachers to use their classrooms to force-feed this kind of propaganda to young, impressionable students. We have licensing laws that should be used to prevent this kind of abuse of the classroom. Critical theory leads to mediocrity, as academics are sacrificed to propaganda.

Put an End to “Ethnic Studies”

Ethnic Studies in Tucson divided students by race: African American students to Classroom 1, Mexican American students to Classroom 2, etc., just like in the old South. The students were taught “critical race theory.” This is their quote: “Unlike traditional civil rights, which embraces incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundation of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.” Teachers should not be teaching our students to be opposed to Enlightenment rationalism and neutral principles of constitutional law. Ethnic Studies had a table that promulgates racial stereotypes by detailing the differences between “white individualism” (e.g. “white people interrupt a lot”) and “colored collectivism.” I wrote a bill that the legislature passed, prohibiting this kind of ethnic chauvinism in our schools. First as Superintendent, and then as Attorney General, I pursued the legal process under the statute, and this toxic program was eliminated. After I was no longer attorney general, a liberal ninth circuit judge cancelled the specific enforcement of the statute, but did not declare it unconstitutional on its fact. There needs to be another effort to enforce it, and if elected I will do that.

Bilingual Education

The current Superintendent of Schools is pushing for a return to bilingual education instead of English immersion. This is not reasonable: The landmark study showed that students in English immersion out performed students in bilingual in college admission, average income, and admission to high-status occupations (by almost 2 to 1). A pathetic 4% of students in bilingual became proficient in English in a year. At that rate, almost none of the students would ever become proficient in English. After I began enforcing the requirement for structured English immersion, the percentage increased to 29%, which meant almost all students would become proficient in English within 3 to 4 years.