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Posts tagged as “Ethnic Studies”

California’s State Board of Education Unanimously Approves Ethnic Studies Curriculum for K-12 Schools After Years of Debate

California’s State Board of Education Unanimously Approves Ethnic Studies Curriculum for K-12 Schools After Years of Debate

By goodblacknews on March 19, 2021

California’s State Board of Education yesterday unanimously approved a model curriculum of coursework in K-12 schools to guide how the histories, struggles and contributions of Black, Asian, Latino and Native Americans — and the racism and marginalization they have experienced in the United States — will be taught to millions of students, according to latimes.com.

Across the nation, so far Oregon and Vermont are the only two states to require ethnic studies classes be taken by its students. A bill in California to make a high school ethnic studies course a graduation requirement is currently making its way through the Legislature.

To quote the latimes.com article:

Although criticism still emerged Thursday, the curriculum approval culminates two years of difficult discussions, protests and rewrites over which groups should be included and how their stories should be presented. Drafts were alternately pilloried for being left-wing propaganda or capitulating to right-wing agendas, and defended as providing an essential means for students of color to see themselves reflected in public school curriculum. It comes at a time when educators are seeking concrete lessons and strategies to address racism.

“The passion that we hear about this topic illustrates why ethnic studies is so important,” board president Linda Darling-Hammond said after nearly eight hours of presentations and discussion. “Much of it is a quest by each person or each group for a sense of belonging and acknowledgement.”

“Ethnic studies demands that we understand the forces that stand in the way of our shared humanity so that we can address them,” she said. “We need the more complete study of our history that ethnic studies provides and the attention to inequality that it stimulates.”

For now, the model curriculum serves as a guide for school districts that want the option to offer ethnic studies. But its lessons stand to become a flashpoint for debate again in the months ahead, as a bill to make a high school ethnic studies course a graduation requirement — believed to be the most far-reaching law of its kind nationally — makes its way through the Legislature.

The final vote came four years, four drafts and 100,000 public comments after state law mandated that educators create a model studies ethnic studies curriculum.

To read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-18/ethnic-studies-finally-approved-california-schools

[Photo credit: Melissa Minton via Flickr/creative commons]

California State University Trustees Vote to Make Ethnic Studies or Social Justice Class Mandatory for Students Statewide

California State University Trustees Vote to Make Ethnic Studies or Social Justice Class Mandatory for Students Statewide

By goodblacknews on July 22, 2020

According to the Los Angeles Times, all 430,000 undergraduates attending California State Universities will be required to take an ethnic studies or social justice course, a curriculum change approved by CSU trustees today.

To quote latimes.com:

The board of trustees voted in favor of the requirement, which will take effect starting in 2023 in the nation’s largest four-year public university system. Five members voted against it, including State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and social justice activists Lateefah Simon and Hugo Morales. One trustee abstained.

Two questions dominated their debate: How should ethnic studies be defined? And who gets to decide: faculty, trustees or state lawmakers?

The new requirement, advanced by the office of the chancellor, creates a three-unit, lower-division course requirement in “ethnic studies and social justice.” The requirement could be met by a traditional ethnic studies course or by courses focused on social justice or social movements.

The measure was opposed by some faculty and students who argued it was too broad and developed without appropriate consultation with ethnic studies faculty.

They contended that adding the social justice option diluted the core mission of ethnic studies, which focuses on the history and experiences of four oppressed groups in the U.S.: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and indigenous people.

California Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), has drafted an alternative plan that is currently making its way to the governor’s office, which would more strictly define how the requirement could be fulfilled.

Federal Judge Strikes Down Arizona Law Banning Ethnic Studies as Unconstitutional

By goodblacknews on August 23, 2017

(LA Johnson/npr.org)

by Julie Depenbrock via npr.org
An Arizona law banning ethnic studies violated students’ constitutional rights, a federal judge said Tuesday. His ruling made clear that the state showed discriminatory intent when it essentially shut down a Mexican-American studies program at Tucson Unified School District. “Both enactment and enforcement were motivated by racial animus,” federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima said in the ruling.
With this news, a portion of the law, prohibiting classes designed for students of certain ethnic groups, has been struck down, but the federal judge has yet to issue a final judgment and redress for the violation.Despite this decade-long debate in Arizona, ethnic studies programs have grown in popularity throughout the country.
To read more, go to: Federal Judge Finds Racism Behind Arizona Law Banning Ethnic Studies : NPR Ed : NPR

UCLA Faculty Approves Diversity Class Requirement for Incoming Students in 2015

By goodblacknews on November 3, 2014

campus-diversity-ap
The faculty of UCLA’s largest academic unit voted by a narrow margin to require future undergraduates to take a course on ethnic, cultural, religious or gender diversity. The move came after three previous efforts had failed.
Officials announced Friday that the faculty of the UCLA College of Letters and Science voted 332 to 303, with 24 blank ballots, to start the requirement for incoming freshmen in fall 2015 and new transfer students in 2017.
Two other faculty and administrative review panels still must approve the requirement before it can go into effect, but the recent college-wide vote was considered the most important step in a much-debated matter on the Westwood campus.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block was a strong proponent of such diversity classes, saying they would help prepare students to live and work in a multi-cultural society. Most other UC campuses and the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture already require such courses. The College of Letters and Science enrolls about 85% of UCLA’s undergraduates.
Opponents said students were overburdened with other requirements, particularly in the sciences, and said the budget-strapped university could not afford extra classes. Additional questions were raised about whether these classes improve ethnic relations and whether they typically skew left politically.
Similar proposals were rejected by the faculty three times in the last two decades. In 2012, the measure lost 224-175 in a vote that attracted only about 30% of potential ballots. More than 46% of the college faculty cast the online ballots in the current weeklong vote after much lobbying and student activism, officials said.
In a statement released Friday, Block said he was pleased by the faculty approval.
“A diversity-related course requirement for UCLA College undergraduates is an important component of our commitment to expose students to beliefs and backgrounds other than their own,” he said.
The courses are expected to  be offered by many academic departments, ranging from sociology to statistics, and students will be required to choose one for an academic quarter.
M. Belinda Tucker, UCLA psychiatry and biobehavioral professor who was a co-chair of the diversity initiative, said the requirement will be more broadly defined than at some other campuses because it will include courses on international topics, not just U.S. issues.
She noted that the courses will not make it harder to graduate since students can devote one of their electives to it and fulfill it with courses that also meet other requirements for their major or degree.
“I think it’s going to benefit the students and benefit the campus as a whole,” Tucker said.
article by Larry Gordon via latimes.com