California becomes first state to require ethnic studies for high school graduation

LOS ANGELES — After more than five years of intense scrutiny and effort, California on Friday became the first state to make ethnic studies a required class for high school graduation to help students understand the past and present struggles and contributions of Black, Asian, Latino, Native/indigenous Americans and other groups that have experienced racism and marginalization in America.

Although critics from across the political spectrum remain, the bill garnered overwhelming support in the Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had vetoed a nearly identical measure last year. At that time, he called for more changes to the draft of a state curriculum guide for ethnic studies — to make it, he said, balanced, fair and “inclusive of all communities.”

Ethnic studies will “help expand educational opportunities in schools, teach students about the diverse communities that comprise California and boost academic engagement and attainment for students,” a statement from the governor’s office said.

The signing was lauded by Democratic Assemblyman Jose Medina of Riverside, who authored the bill.

“The inclusion of ethnic studies in the high school curriculum is long overdue,” Medina said. “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. ” He called the approval “one step in the long struggle for equal education for all students.”

Ethnic studies in California classrooms will move forward as a compromise between advocates who wanted an activist, anti-imperialist approach and those who asserted that the first version was filled with radical ideology, obscure academic jargon and bias against capitalism.

Alterations toned down these elements and also added the experiences of Jewish, Armenian and Sikh communities in the U.S

With the issue seemingly settled at the state level, debate could now move to schools and school districts — and become entangled in a volatile political divide over critical race theory, and the extent to which it is incorporated in the state’s ethnic studies curriculum. School boards must hold public hearings on the courses they plan to offer.

Critical race theory was first developed at the university level as an academic lens through which to analyze how race and racism are enmeshed in institutional and systemic inequities in America. A footnote in the state’s ethnic studies teaching guide states that critical race theory “acknowledges that racism is embedded within systems and institutions.”

Critical race theory is rarely mentioned in the teaching guide, but critic Williamson M. Evers said the overall model curriculum is “permeated” with content that makes it “racially divisive and burdened by faddish ideology.” According to Evers, a former U.S. assistant secretary of education, and some other opponents, the problematic issues include a reliance on the concepts of critical race theory, leading to portrayal of American culture and institutions through a racially divisive prism of oppressor and victim.

Individual school districts will have the task of developing courses using the model curriculum, which was approved last March. Educators can pick and choose elements of this teaching guide to include in a local course but are expected to be faithful to the main ideas of this framework.

Students in Glendale, with its large Armenian. American population, for example, could study the Armenian immigrant experience in that community and examine historic links to the Armenian genocide in World War I by forces of the Ottoman Empire in what is now Turkey. (Turkey’s government rejects the genocide label).

Under the 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.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the successful push for ethnic studies sets California apart.

“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,” Weber said. “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 contributions to American society.”

Ultimately, many California ethnic studies critics were at least mollified. Some supporters, meanwhile, felt they had no viable alternative but to accept an expansion beyond the four groups that have traditionally been the focus of ethnic studies: Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans and Indigenous peoples — those who lived in the Americas before the arrival of colonizers from Europe.

The ethnic studies bill had overwhelming support — albeit all from Democrats — in both houses of the Legislature.