California's new ethnic studies requirement for high school students will promote tolerance and academic performance

ALLISON SHELLEY FOR EDUIMAGES

California requires ethnic studies for high school students.

California high school students will need to take ethnic studies course in order to receive to graduate after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the mandate Friday.

"Students cannot have a full understanding of the history of our state and nation without the inclusion of the contributions and struggles of Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans,” said Assemblymember Jose Medina, author of AB 101.  "The signing of AB 101 today is one step in the long struggle for equal education for all students.”

After five years of studies, revisions and rewrites, California on Friday became the first state to make ethnic studies a required class for high school graduation to help all students understand the complete history of America, including the past and present struggles and contributions of Asian, Black Latino, Indigenous Americans and other groups whose histories and stories have been ignored or erased until now.

"America is shaped by our shared history, much of it painful and etched with woeful injustice. Students deserve to see themselves in their studies, and they must understand our nation's full history if we expect them to one day build a more just society," said the governor in a signing statement.

“Ethnic studies courses enable students to learn their own stories — and those of their classmates,” Newsom said. Ethnic studies will “help expand educational opportunities in schools, teach students about the diverse communities that comprise California. "A number of studies have shown that these courses boost student achievement over the long run - especially among students of color."

In today's schools, the only 22% of California's public school students are White. California is one of three states where Whites do not have a majority, according to the 2020 Census. More than three-quarters of California’s 6.2 million K-12 students are non-white: 55% Latino, 12% Asian or Pacific Islander and 5% African American.

RELATED: Telling the stories of California's students

The vast majority of California’s immigrants were born in Latin America (50%) or Asia (39%). However, among immigrants who arrived between 2010 and 2019, more than half (53%) were born in Asia, while only 31% were born in Latin America. according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The leading countries of origin are Mexico (3.9 million), the Philippines (859,000), China (796,000), Vietnam (539,000), and India (513,000). based on the 2019 American Communities Survey by the US Census.

From the 2020 US Census, we learn that Asians make up 15% of the state with more than 6 million people of Asian descent — more than the total population of most other states.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said that ethnic studies as a way to help students of color see themselves reflected in what they learn, and also to learn about their histories.

Under the new law, students in the Class of 2030, who will start high school in the fall of 2026, must pass at least a single one-semester course. And, by the fall of 2025, all public high schools will have to offer such a class.

Some California school districts, including Los Angeles and San Francisco school districts, have already launched their own ethnic studies requirements for years.

Enactment of AB 101 releases $50 million in this year’s state budget for all county offices of education, charter schools and school districts to develop ethnic studies curriculums. The money will be distributed to schools serving high school students, as a straight apportionment, according to the California Department of Education.

“There is no requirement for CDE or any other agency to manage the program,” said California Department of Education information officer Jonathan Mendick. “Districts must spend the money in accordance with the requirements of AB 101, which has myriad guardrails built in around curriculum that meets the graduation requirement.”

“At a time when some states are retreating from an accurate discussion of our history, I am proud that California continues to lead in its teaching of ethnic studies,” said Secretary of State Shirley Weber. “This subject not only has academic benefits, but also has the capacity to build character as students learn how people from their own or different backgrounds face challenges, overcome them and make contributes to American society. .. This is a great day for California.”

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Ethnic studies mandatory for California State University system, bill advances for high school ethnic studies course

 

An Asian American Studies class at Cal State University, Fullerton.

It's a shame a law has to be passed in order to have the history of ethnic minorities included in high school studies but centuries of having only one version of history taught in schools makes this complicated road to the truth necessary.

Hoping to build on the heightened awareness of the racial disparities that exist in almost all U.S. institutions, Assembly Bill 331l would require all students to take ethnic studies to graduate from high school is pressing Senate leaders to free up the bill and send it to California's Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature before the end of August. 

“For too long, the experiences and contributions of people of color have been left out of the classroom,” said Assemblymember Jose Medina, one of the lead authors of the bill.

“Ethnic studies courses empower students and help build culturally competent citizens. Requiring ethnic studies will help ensure that all students learn a more holistic and representative history of the United States and foster a deeper understanding of our commonalities and differences.”

The governor on Monday (Aug. 17) signed another bill that would make a course in ethnic studies a prerequisite for graduation at a California State University. That requirement would take effect for the freshmen of 2024. (For those unfamiliar with California, the CSU is different from the better known University of California system.)

“Ethnic studies will make people uncomfortable and if not, then it has not done its job."

-- Assemblymember Shirley Weber

The bill for high school on Thursday (Aug. 20) passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and now goes to the full Senate for a vote.

Medina has amended the Assembly Bill 331 to apply to students entering 9th grade in the fall of 2025. That would give school districts and charter schools several years to phase in ethnic studies. But Medina and members of the Black, Latino and Asian and Pacific Islander legislative caucuses are pressing ahead with it now, capitalizing on the tail winds of widespread public sympathy with the Black Lives Matter movement and racial reckoning the country is undergoing.

If signed into law, California would be the first state to mandate ethnic studies as a high school requirement. AB 331 would require at a minimum a one-semester course that would be based on an ethnic studies model curriculum that districts could use to fashion their own version. In 2016, the Legislature ordered that the curriculum be created to encourage more districts to teach ethnic studies.

Medina along with members of the caucuses of Black, Latino and Asian Pacific American legislators, organized a press conference before the Appropriation Committee's vote. 

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, referred to the police killing of George Floyd in explaining why the Legislature should act.

“AB 331 is a clear way and a great way to make sure we are pricking students’ consciousness before they enter adulthood and before we have to see any more videos of people dying,” she said. “The time is now to answer the call for justice in a meaningful way.” 

Meanwhile, Newsom approved Assembly Bill 1460 that requires all students enrolled on all 23 CSU campuses to take a 3-unit class in Native American studies, African American studies, Asian American studies or Latina and Latino studies.

The new law will make California the first state to require ethnic studies as a university graduation requirement, according to the California Faculty Association.

CSU, the largest university system in the nation, has been in the forefront of ethnic studies education. In 1969, after a months-long strike led by minority students, the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State became the first college of its kind in the country. Cal State Los Angeles created the first Chicano studies program in 1968.

“Ethnic studies will make people uncomfortable and if not, then it has not done its job,” said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, who coauthored the legislation. “It was founded because the current system crushed people; to not recognize how deep is racism is to deny ethnic studies.”

California students petition for Asian American Studies course

Asian American high school students in Irvine, Calif. can't wait until college to learn how Asian Americans helped build this country.

Over 700 signatures have been collected for a petition to have the Irvine Unified School District offer an Asian American Studies course for high school students, which make up about 60% of the student body.

The online petition was created by and led by the Korean American Young Leaders, a youth empowerment program run by the Southern California city's Korean American Center.

"All our social studies, literary and history courses are taught from a Euro-American perspective," reads the petition. "There are no schools within IUSD that offer an Asian American Studies or Ethnic Studies class. Most students are not aware of contributions that were made by Asian Americans to the fabric of this country. This lack of awareness among Asian Americans and the general population has resulted in Asian Americans often being disenfranchised."

"As students, we believe this is important in promoting diversity and intercultural understanding. This class will provide all students with an opportunity to learn and understand Asian American history and our contributions to the United States while allowing students to take pride in their dual cultural heritage," continues the petition.

The students might have some legislative help in their endeavor. 

Last week, Assemblymember Jose Medina, D-Riverside, introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 331 to mandate Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement in all California high schools. This follows Governor Brown’s veto of AB 2772 last year, which would have created a pilot program for select school districts to require Ethnic Studies.

“Knowledge of our history plays a critical role in shaping who we become," said Medina, a former teacher. "When I was growing up, the history of those who look like me was not represented in the classroom. As a former Ethnic Studies teacher, I saw firsthand how much more engaged my students were when they saw themselves reflected in the coursework."

Assembly Bill 331, introduced Jan 31, would require the students in grades 9-12 to take an ethnic studies course in either social studies or English starting in the 2023-24 school year. The Instructional Quality Commission would develop the course curriculum with input from ethnic studies professors at universities and colleges, along with representatives from local education agencies and teachers with experience or educational backgrounds in studying and teaching ethnic studies. The class could run either one semester or a full school year, depending on what the individual school district decides.

According to a 2016 study from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, students who took part in a pilot ethnic studies program at San Francisco high schools had higher GPAs and better attendance rates and more credits earned than those who didn’t.

“Taken at face value, these findings provide a compelling confirmation of an extensive literature that has emphasized the capacity of [culturally relevant pedagogy] to unlock the educational potential of historically marginalized students,” the report said.

School district officials said they are open to hearing the students' concerns.

"California is one of the most diverse states in the country and we should celebrate that diversity by teaching a curriculum that is inclusive of all of our cultures and backgrounds," Medina said. "Ethnic Studies provide students an opportunity to learn about histories outside of the Euro-centric teachings most prominent in our schools. At a time when the national climate drives divisiveness and fear of otherness, Ethnic Studies can play a critical role in increasing awareness and understanding."

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