# Letter about Hispanic students in Glendale spurs controversy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817 "2011-03-24T05:36:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/1 "2011-03-24T05:36:31Z")
Anyone here from Arizona? It is pretty worrying if the attitudes reported here by the teacher are prevalent. The comments section is interesting, ranging from suggestions the letter is made up, to “he’s a Nazi bigot”, to people suggesting it squares with their experiences. > [@](#): > > Hill said that when he asked the students to stop speaking Spanish in class, they told him that “Americans better learn Spanish and their customs because they are taking the land back from us.” He said most students refused to open the textbook, tore out pages, and threw them at each other. [http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2011/03/21/20110321arizona-hispanic-students-letter-controversy.html#ixzz1HUZ0Sg00](http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2011/03/21/20110321arizona-hispanic-students-letter-controversy.html#ixzz1HUZ0Sg00) Update: > [@](#): > > Glendale Elementary School District officials confirmed Wednesday that substitute teacher Tony Hill did work in at least three of their schools this year, [http://www.kpho.com/news/27301575/detail.html](http://www.kpho.com/news/27301575/detail.html) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/2 "2011-03-24T06:08:36Z")
> [@](#): > > **Hill filled out an exit form the day he substituted at Smith Elementary. On it he noted that the students followed directions poorly and did not act properly, but in the section where it asked for him to note any inappropriate behavior, Hill left that blank.** > > “The email that was read on the floor is a big fat lie. It’s wrong. It’s false.The fact is, in the teachers exit report, there was no statement that the students were throwing text books and ripping up the assignments and not wanting to stand for the pledge or wanted to be gang members. It’s a big fat lie,” said Sen. Steve Gallardo, a member of the Latino Caucus. > > Wednesday afternoon, Gallardo once again asked for an apology from Pearce and the other Republican senators who continued to defend Hill and his email. > > Pearce said the only person who is owed an apology is Hill because he is being attacked and vilified for telling the truth. Pearce said he was disappointed that this rhetoric about a true and accurate email is continuing. > > Republican Sen. Sylvia Allen, from Snowflake, echoed Pearce’s comments saying just because Hill didn’t report the student’s behavior to the school or district does not mean it didn’t happen. > > **"I can totally understand why he wouldn’t report it. Nowadays in political correctness, you dare not say some things if you ever want to teach again. And that’s probably why he didn’t report it.** I think it’s wrong, on this floor, to be calling this man a liar and saying there’s no proof just because he didn’t fill out a report," said Allen. Bull, This is republican land, and of people defending very controversial laws. It does stretch reason to claim that he did not mention that behavior in the report because of political correctness. Even in the school where I am, with many Latinos, if a student does not say the pledge it would get him or her in trouble. Same also for attempting to speak in Spanish, oh yes they try, but they get dinged for doing that also. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/3 "2011-03-24T06:46:29Z")
I knew the name Sylvia Allen sounded familiar. And lo and behold, she inspired [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=562146). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/4 "2011-03-24T07:19:45Z")
The thing is, you don’t have to say the pledge, and some white people are racist. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Chen019](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@Chen019](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chen019)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/5 "2011-03-24T08:28:19Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > The thing is, you don’t have to say the pledge, and some white people are racist. > > Oh well. And you seem to be missing the wood for the trees. The concern is the attitudes of these students and to what extent they reflect views in the mexican community. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/6 "2011-03-24T09:47:01Z")
> [@Chen019](#): > > And you seem to be missing the wood for the trees. The concern is the attitudes of these students and to what extent they reflect views in the mexican community. Your worried Mexican Highschool students are going to revolt Wolverines style and take back the SouthWest for Mexico? I’m pretty confident thats not going to happen. (That said, that would be a much better idea for the remake of Red Dawn then the stupid idea of having N. Korea invade that they actually went with) ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/7 "2011-03-24T10:19:32Z")
I think you’re all missing the point. Elementary students misbehaved around a substitute teacher. Why is this a big deal again? We don’t have anything better to do? Really? Politicians have nothing else going on? Oh wait. They’re mexicans. Mexican students misbehaved around a substitute teacher. That’s way closer to a mountain than a molehill. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/8 "2011-03-24T11:01:09Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Your worried Mexican Highschool students are going to revolt Wolverines style and take back the SouthWest for Mexico? I’m pretty confident thats not going to happen. > > (That said, that would be a much better idea for the remake of Red Dawn then the stupid idea of having N. Korea invade that they actually went with) Somewhere in Hollywood, someone’s going :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/9 "2011-03-24T11:30:20Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > I think you’re all missing the point. Elementary students misbehaved around a substitute teacher. I know, for all the scare-mongering about Mexican kids not assimilating, they seem to have stumbled upon the American tradition of running rough-shod over the substitute teacher pretty quickly. Course when I was in school, the sub usually went to get the Principal to scare us all into behaving, instead of trying to find a State Senator (!) to deal with the problem. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/10 "2011-03-24T12:14:09Z")
Once again, students prove their uncanny ability to find a person’s buttons and push them. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/11 "2011-03-24T13:19:25Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Your worried Mexican Highschool students are going to revolt Wolverines style and take back the SouthWest for Mexico? I’m pretty confident thats not going to happen. Oh yeah? How would you like it if Hitler slaughtered your family!?!? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/12 "2011-03-24T13:28:13Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I knew the name Sylvia Allen sounded familiar. And lo and behold, she inspired [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=562146). Maybe she can work out her frustrations by tearing the pages out of some Koran Bibles. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/13 "2011-03-24T15:37:01Z")
So if Arizona was taken over by a bunch of 10-year-old Mexican gangsters, would they really do much worse than the current government? ---
**Author:** ![Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inbred_Mm_domesticus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/14 "2011-03-24T15:41:57Z")
I am completely unsurprised that **Chen019** is freaking out about this, given that he is a giant fricken racist. I am surprised you are not raping science or selectively taking results from the 1800s to say something about Mexican-American kids. I am also completely unsurprised that students jerked their substitute around. I don’t envy his job at all, but he handled it dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/15 "2011-03-24T16:16:51Z")
You know, it used to be I would ‘joke’ that if I ever traveled outside of the US, I would tell people I was Canadian. Now I’m going to have to tell people I’m from California\* when I travel within the US. ☹ I swear, we’re not all rabid, racist, tea-party members. \*Technically true as that is where I was born and lived for 29 years. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letter-about-hispanic-students-in-glendale-spurs-controversy/575817/16 "2011-03-24T17:45:33Z")
> [@Chen019](#): > > And you seem to be missing the wood for the trees. The concern is the attitudes of these students and to what extent they reflect views in the mexican community. To what extent do the views of fifth graders reflect those of _any_ community? Also, I think you mean the Mexican-American community.