Precious Knowledge Movie Analysis (Essay Sample)

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character that is the goal of true education.”-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Precious Knowledge is a documentary that presents events that took place at Tucson High School. At the high school, an ethnic studies program was implemented for Mexican- American students to motivate students to attend their classes and to graduate. These ethnic classes taught students more about their ethnic origin and history. The program turned out to be a huge success, increasing the graduation rate, students' attendance, and providing a newfound love for students learning again. Despite its positive outcome, unfortunately, many people opposed the ethnic studies program. They concluded that these classes were anti-American and that they installed anti-American values into the students. This later then reached Tom Horne, the superintendent of Public Instruction, who was as well against this ethnic studies program. He proposed a ban on these ethnic studies classes and succeeded in passing a bill prohibiting the program (). The remainder of the documentary consists of teachers and students protesting the bill and ultimately preventing the bill from being passed. The purpose of this documentary is to express the aggravation ethnic students face in school.

One of the main issues of this film - if not the main issue - is the fact that the government and many people in the community view ethnic studies as anti-American. The electives were simply electives and they did not replace the core classes that must be taken to graduate, which include American government, American history, and English classes. The ethnic studies electives simply taught the students Mexican culture as an addition, and in no way should that be viewed as anti-American. However, the government and people in power thought teaching Mexican culture to students who were mostly of Mexican origin was anti-American, which could be viewed as institutional racism. Rather than ethnic studies being anti-American, it’s more likely that Tom Horne and other politicians were afraid it was anti-white.

 Institutional racism is defined as “patterns by which racial inequality is structured through key cultural institutions, policies, and systems”, which is being shown here against Hispanic culture. European history and British literature are perfectly fine classes in most American high schools, However, the government has deemed that Hispanic-Culture-related classes are unacceptable, despite the positive results shown by the students. The prohibition of the ethnic studies program might revert the students to their old ways of dropping out of high school, which would essentially take away the Chicanos' chance of succeeding in getting a career and obtaining a college education. This is only one example of how minorities may not have equal opportunities as the white majority does due to institutional rules. 

  To solve this specific predicament of institutional racism, it is important to educate people that learning about other cultures or being proud of your ethnicity is not anti-American. America itself is filled with people from every corner of the world. If immigrants or the children of immigrants come to live in America, assimilation is not necessary. Many immigrants instead choose to be multicultural. While assimilating means completely absorbing the culture of the majority and forsaking your old culture, being multicultural is to accept the best of both worlds, to retain your ethnic culture, and to indulge in the new culture, which is what the students and staff attempted to do at Tucson High School. However, multiculturalism was not accepted by Tom Horne and instead he - and many others that worked in the institution - only approved of assimilation.

 The form of argument that this documentary is posing is whether or not it is morally correct to take away the ethnic studies program for Mexican-American students. Tucson school district superintendent, Tom Horne, wants the grouping of students learning of their ethnic background to be banned. 

 "When I was in high school in 1963, I participated in the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. said he wanted his son to be judged by the quality of his character and not by the color of his skin, and I'm still fighting for that now.”( Superintendent Tom Horne, Precious Knowledge, 22:00-23:01) Tom Horne believes it is very wrong to divide students up by ethnicity and treat them separately because of their ethnicity. Though it is respectable for Horne to be very concerned about possible racism, students may face being separated from others. In the documentary, students in the ethnic program are not being mistreated, and are willingly participating in the classes. It seems that Horne is looking at it through a smaller concept instead of the bigger picture. Though, yes, they are Hispanic students being separated from other white or African American students. In this program, they are being taught differently, but the history of their own culture. It can be appreciated that Tom Horne is concerned about the potential racism he feels these students may be feeling or facing, and he would like to get rid of that. Brought up by the school board, their concern within the classes is that these students are being indoctrinated by people in power to have a specific mindset of white versus Hispanic. Another man on the school board's issue with the class was that they are instituting values that the founding fathers are racist, the social system is stacked against them, and evil ideas cannot be instituted in kids' minds and expect healthy outcomes. The ultimate main concern with these classes is that they believe the schools are turning their students into angry, young radicals when schools should teach kids to think for themselves. Though, the majority of the school board are older white privileged men who have never had to face a day in the shoes of a Hispanic student struggling in high school. Tom Horne, has also never taken the time to visit the classroom and learn alongside these students in their program. Because there is no negative connotation with the students themselves personally, it seems to be instead maybe Tom Horne is the racially motivated one. Ultimately, in the bigger picture, these classes are providing information for ethnic students of their origin and helping keep students engaged in learning and studying. 

The ethnic studies program for students is effective because it teaches students to embrace America. Though racism still does exist, these classes have a positive influence on students' lives. Furthermore, the program is about understanding community, respect, and appreciation, which has led to students performing academically much better than those not placed in the classes.

The documentary uses Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. The use of Ethos is being used because it discusses how classes of students are being taught together. Pathos is demonstrated in this documentary because it provokes the use of emotion. In the documentary, towards the end, many students are shown crying over the loss of their ethics classes. It is unfair for these students to have to beg and protest for the school board to not take away classes that help them progress in their studies. The use of logos is being used on both sides. Through the eyes of the school board and the superintendent, they believe the classes are insinuating racism in school students. Though through the opinions of the teachers and students in the Raza studies classes, their opinion of logic is the opposite. From their perspective, it is unfair for the school board to take away their classes with little to no evidence of indoctrination towards students against America. 

The audience of the documentary seems to be anyone who decides to watch the documentary. Though we are shown through the perspective of ethnic students, teachers, and some parents. We are not shown as much of the perspective of elders on the school board, but they are shown discussing their opinions or perspective. The speech is written normally, but it seems to be easy to understand for students. Though, there is some language slang being used by students, which may be because this documentary aired in 2008. 

After analyzing both sides, the school boards, superintendents, Tom Horne, and La Raza’s students and teachers, I am in favor of the students' ethics program. The students' and schools' side is more effective because they had a stronger argument. They had clear points on why the ethnic studies program should remain in school for students. This is because La Raza helped students participate in school better, it taught them to excel in school, and it increased the graduation rate for students. La Raza helped institute individualism within the students themselves and it allowed students to gain confidence in themselves whilst learning about their identity and origin. The perspective of the school board had little to no evidence proving why the ethnic studies program should be abolished. The members of the school board seemed to be threatened by Tucson ethnic students, and they were more concerned that it was anti-white.