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Allison Adad

Ethnic Studies Curriculum in California

San Francisco State’s fight for the college of Ethnic Studies was the first major triumph

for, not only, ethnic studies, but specifically for students of color in academia. This sparked

movements all over the U.S. that forced colleges to listen to the demands students had for their

school to teach their truth. A similar time has come, but this time, for high school students in

California. The California Department of Education Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Advisory

Committee (CDE) has been drafting an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) so high

schoolers would be given the chance to learn the narratives of marginalized groups in this

country through ethnic studies, this draft has finally come to the final round of approval before it

is finalized by California’s Board of Education (Morrar). This all sounds like such promising

endeavors for BIPOC marginalized communities that are often not represented in the world of

academia but ever since Assembly Bill No. 2016 was passed, which ignited the creation of this

curriculum, there has been controversy regarding erasure of certain ethnic groups, such as Arab

Americans, Palestinian Americans, Jewish Americans, and Pacific Islanders from the curriculum

(Morrar). There has been several revisions due to the abundant critiques from educators,

students, and members of the community but on February 2nd, 2021 the advisory committee

writers for the ESMC requested there names be removed from the finalized curriculum (“CA

Ethnic Studies Writers Remove Their Names from State Curriculum, Insist It's an Insult to

Ethnic Studies.”). This endeavor, of now 5 years, has seemed to be a beacon of hope for

education being more inclusive and truthful, but this event has also demonstrated that this

curriculum is not what dedicated ethnic studies activists hoped for, and that there is still great

work to be done to ensure no erasure is committed .

This fight is so crucial because it is a fight for representation. Representation of culture,

struggle, and resistance. According to Lara Kiswani, a former professor of mine who actually

introduced me to this bill, in a webinar hosted by Arab Resource and Organizing Center

(AROC): the right-wing backlash in the midst of the creation of the ESMC began in 2019 which

targeted the removal of Arab American studies and the erasure of the Palestine; eventually the

CDE “agreed to reinsert Arab and Asian American studies”, but they have gutted the entire

curriculum” and it became a “white-washed lesson plan”. During the Webinar Jason Ferreira also

pointed out the parallels between the fight for ethnic studies now, and in 1968 during the Third

World Liberation Front Strikes. He mentioned that we, the marginalized groups, have “the right

to define what constitutes ethnic studies,” and calls out those opposing the original version of the

ESMC and groups them to the same oppressors the TWLF faced (“The Fight for Ethnic Studies

in CA with Special Guest: Angela Davis.”). This collection of ethnic studies experts on the

webinar all emphasized that ethnic studies isn’t just a department, it’s who we are because of it’s

interconnectedness with out ancestors, our places of origin, our native language, and native land.

The CDE continues to fail to prioritize the positive impact learning such valuable history could

have on BIPOC children in high school, simply because ethnic studies does not fall under

americas white, colonial, cis-heteronormative, capitalist agenda. The people on the California

Board of Education have most likely never taken an ethnic studies course yet have the power to

create a curriculum they think is best for children state-wide. The reason "educators and activist

groups that the authors of the curriculum’s original draft have demanded that their names be

removed,” is because the bill no longer reflects the committees vision for an authentic

curriculum of ethnic studies pedagogy. During the webinar in February 2nd 2021, Allyson

Tintiangco-Cubales is the one who announced the request that would be sent to the CDE to

remove their names “from the association from the final document” (Gardiner). This is

something that must have deeply troubled the original writers of the ESMC because their

intention in doing so was a genuine hope to empower BIPOC youth, but in the end they were not

able to fully resonate with their accomplishment. On March 19th, California officially approved

the curriculum. This feels like a step forward but after investigating and understanding that this

curriculum does not truly serve every oppressed group, it’s hard to feel content. The process of

this whole bill from start to finish, demonstrates the sacrifices marginalized groups make to resist

systems of oppression, and how it’s unfortunately it can still not be enough.

This event is relevant to youth culture, race, and resistance, because at the heart of this

battle to spread ethnic studies curriculum is the children that educators want to reach. All these

movements taught at SFSU’s Race & Resistance Curriculum involve historical movements, all

with young people at the forefront. When young students are given representation in their history

books, it makes it easier for them to be courageous to be themselves unapologetically. In

“A snapchat story: how black girls develop strategies for critical resistance in school” by Lauren

Kelly, we see this engagement from young girls in matters like racial equity stem from the use of

social media. Social Media is a tool that makes it easy to learn and when intricate topics related

to social justice are made easier to understand, it’s likely that people will be more inclined to

learning. We see this with a young girl named Layla, who sates she’s already “learned so much

about disabled people’s rights and erasure of Native Americans..in such a short time” from

Twitter; this same student acknowledged that social media taught her about racial inequity, which

“she found lacking in her formal schooling” (Kelly 381). Having ethnic studies as readily

available resource in schools will help develop the ability to critically question ones

surroundings and allow one to feel more compelled to be involved, which is the beginning of

activism. Similarly, before the creation of the ethnic studies at SFSU, students from the Black

Students Union demanded a Black studies department, because they knew they had a right to

learn about their ancestors and they also knew that the truth could no longer be buried under a

white supremacist cloak (Bates). This fight for ethnic studies is still being fought.

I chose this article because ethnic studies is a framework that has changed my perspective

of my surroundings for the better. This article was a great learning tool for me to understand that

there are multiple dimensions to an exiting issue, and so many different ways to critically

evaluate what the truth is and who is being primarly affected. On the surface, the ESMC seems

like a curriculum that all activists were waiting for, but major news outlets only celebrated the

newly approved curriculum and fail to mention the letter that the advisory committee sent to the

CDE, or the disapproval of the finalized curriculum from many ethnic studies educators and

students (“California Adopts First Statewide Ethnic Studies High School Curriculum.”). This

occurrence has shown me how prevalent erasure is and if we aren’t constantly being active about

preventing it, then erasure will triumph. I see ethnic studies as a form of story telling, because

one day if technology ceases to exist we will only be able to pass down what we know through

our words, and art, so this is why we must keep it alive.

Work Cited

Bates, Karen Grigsby, and Shereen Marisol Meraji. “The Student Strike That Changed Higher Ed

Forever.” NPR, NPR, 21 Mar. 2019.

“CA Ethnic Studies Writers Remove Their Names from State Curriculum, Insist It's an Insult to

Ethnic Studies.” Save Arab American Studies, Arab Resources and Organizing

Committee, 3 Feb. 2021.

“California Adopts First Statewide Ethnic Studies High School Curriculum.” NBC News, NBC

Universal News Group, 19 Mar. 2021.

Gardiner, Dustin. “California's Ethnic Studies Curriculum Sparks Sharp Divide as Vote Nears.”

San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Mar. 2021.

Kelly, Lauren Leigh. (2018) A snapchat story: how black girls develop strategies for critical

resistance in school, Learning, Media and Technology, 43:4, 374-389, DOI:

10.1080/17439884.2018.1498352

Morrar, Sawson. “Controversial Ethnic Studies Draft Approved by California Commission,

Moves to Final Round .” The Sacramento Bee, The Sacramento Bee, 20 Nov. 2020.

Morrar, Sawson. “Will the Ethnic Studies Plan Include Pacific Islanders and Arab Americans?

Eventually .” The Sacramento Bee, The Sacramento Bee, 14 Aug. 2020.

“The Fight for Ethnic Studies in CA with Special Guest: Angela Davis.” Arab Resource Was &

Organizing Center, Arab Resource Was & Organizing Center, 2 Feb. 2021.