Ethnic Studies In California
By: Sarah Son
What is Ethnic Studies? Ethnic Studies is a program that aims to develop fundamental skills in critical and global thinking, as well as an understanding of the interactions of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the experiences of a range of social groups.
Recently, the California State Board of Education approved the nation’s first statewide ethnic studies curriculum for high schools. The board members voted unanimously, 11-0, and they hope other states will follow in their footsteps. Especially with the recent Asian-targeted racist attacks across the nation, it is more crucial than ever to make sure high-schoolers are educated on the impact of underrepresented groups. Racism, in particular, is not a thing of the past. It is clearly present today, and has not disappeared. The Board of Education President, Linda Darling-Hammond, says, “We must understand this history if we are finally to end it.”
The Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, which took over 3 years to create and is almost 900 pages long, focuses on exposing high schoolers to the struggles and contributions of “historically marginalized peoples which are often untold in U.S. history courses.” The four main groups highlighted are African Americans, Chicano/Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. In addition, there are lessons on Jews, Arab Americans, Sikh Americans, and Armenian Americans, following the objection of the early draft curriculum, which did not include these groups.
The course consists of 33 lesson plans, which schools can select based on the diversity of their student communities. One example of the lesson plan material is a discussion about police brutality in the BLM (Black Lives Matter) Movement. Another lesson plan encourages students to interview both Korean-Americans and Black residents in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots to hear different opinions of the pre-21st century tensions that led to severe violence. One of the lesson plans, centered on Japanese-Americans, has students study poetry and art that were created in internment camps during WWII.
Calofornia’s ethnic studies curriculum is “a starting point” since it will continuously be expanded and improved upon. The California Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, a former lawmaker and academic who created an ethnic studies program at San Diego State University in the 1970s, says, “We will not find the perfect curriculum, but we have one that is strong.”
As a Korean-American high schooler in California who often studies and advocates for the detailed history of Korea, I am highly anticipating this class to be available in high schools soon. Although I may have already graduated once the ethnic studies class is ready to be offered to students, I’m glad that countless others will get the chance to take the meaningful class and engage in learning about the important history, struggles, and contributions of underrepresented groups.