by 
San Manuel Miner
John Huppenthal, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction was taken to the wood shed this week by the media and public and rightfully so. For a man in his position to make the hateful and thoughtless comments admitted to by him, shows a disregard for the general public, our schools and the children of Arizona. He is supposed to be a leader and set an example for our kids. Instead Arizona has been embarrassed again in the national news. How can we attract businesses to Arizona when the head of public education is seen as being heartless and racist? For those who have not read or heard about the comments made by Huppenthal, here are a few.
He called people on welfare and those receiving food stamps “lazy pigs”. Many of those “lazy pigs” are children in his school system. In Arizona 27 percent of children under age 18 live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. What does that do for their self esteem? This is insulting and demeaning to all those families. He made the comment, “We all need to stomp out balkanization. No Spanish radio stations, no Spanish billboards, no Spanish TV stations, no Spanish newspapers. This is America, speak English.” Apparently he doesn’t believe that free speech or freedom of the press belongs in his Arizona.
Some of his comments related to education were bewildering to me. When he said, “Well of course scientists are Democrats, they are all on the public dole and have been all of their lives,” I wondered if he was against students becoming scientists. Then again he has been on the public dole himself since 1984. Then there was his interpretation of history where he blamed the Great Depression on Franklin Delano Roosevelt and blamed FDR’s economic policies for the rise of Hitler. I am not an expert on history but that is completely idiotic.
Huppenthal has apologized for his statements and even shed a tear or two over them although I do no buy his sincerity. He has shown us what and who he is, a man unfit to be the head of the Department of Education. If he has any sense of honor, he will resign. If not we need to vote him out of office, unless we are a bunch of lazy sheep.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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