The Self-Destruction of Arizona

With all the problems in education these days, Arizona’s state superintendent of public instruction, John Huppenthal, thinks he has the answer. He just completed a successful effort to suspend Mexican-American studies from the public schools in this city, claiming such classes teach students to resent Anglos. Now convinced that the universities that train public school teachers are also to blame for such biases, he is launching an effort to eradicate Mexican-American studies from the entire University of Arizona system. Driving along these cactus roads towards the Mexican border, it’s hard not to think of all the energy being wasted by Arizona’s leaders on a false threat - multiculturalism - and how much the state is paying for it. It’s like a global party is going on, and Arizona’s Republican leadership is waiting by the phone, in an ugly dress, wondering why no one is paying attention.