Progress
I apologize for not posting in a month. I actually started writing this blog on October 14, but I admit, I have been preoccupied with my Common App and the close of my last high school football season. I don’t have a lot of extra time to wax philosophical between classes, homework, 18 hours a week of football, and doing my best to “be myself” on my college applications.
And what happened on October 14th that I needed to share? Something pretty monumental from my point of view. California became the first state to require high school students to take an ethnic studies course in order to graduate. Under the new law, Assembly Bill 101, high school students must take one semester of an ethnic studies course as a graduation requirement.
The bill was surprisingly controversial. Surprising, because California is considered a liberal state. Governor Newsome assumed there would be widespread support, but this was not the case. Previous drafts of the teaching guidelines were criticized as too liberal, and endorsed the “critical race theory.” A concept contends that racism is ingrained in government institutions and American law. In addition, many Jewish groups felt that the curriculum only looked at current Palestinian oppression and did not give context to the suffering of the Jewish race in the Holocaust.
Ethnic studies is already graduation requisite at California community colleges as well as the California State University System. It is also a requisite at a few of the University of California Campuses. Course specifics will vary by each California school district, however, the curriculum must focus on the contributions of Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, and other ethnic groups in the US. The stories of First-generation Americans and immigrants are not taught in traditional US history courses.
I think it is important that students have the opportunity to learn about their own history and heritage as well as those of their classmates, especially as a teenager when opinions and perspectives are being formed. As a current high school student, I can confirm that the last three and a half years have been very eye-opening for me. As a freshman, I was truly a blank slate; the stories, perspectives, and experiences I have “absorbed” into my own sense of self have been incredibly enlightening.
The Bill has been in the making for years. The curriculum model, approved by the California Department of Education, is over 800 pages long. It will include important aspects of US history such as the Chinese Railroad Workers that built California’s transportation infrastructure, as well as US Housing Inequality, and current issues such as #BlackLivesMatter and Asian hate.
Unfortunately, schools in California do not have to begin to offer ethnic studies courses until 2025. That means high school students graduating in 2029-2030 will be the first subject to this mandate. That is a bit disappointing to me. However, I did learn from the California Department of Education that several districts in California, including San Francisco, Fresno, San Diego, and Los Angeles, have already added ethnic studies as a graduation requirement.
I am sure the rollout of the curriculum across the state’s high school districts will not be without much debate. Ethnic studies is a very personal and sensitive topic. However, I am highly encouraged that the Assembly Bill was approved and that the California Department of Education is working toward developing un-bias and educational course work to bring diversity and awareness into the classroom.
Sources:
https://edsource.org/2021/california-becomes-first-state-to-require-ethnic-studies-in-high-school/662219
https://www.kqed.org/news/11891396/new-california-law-will-require-ethnic-studies-class-for-high-schoolers
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/10/08/california-students-will-have-to-take-ethnic-studies-to-get-a-diploma-1391773