Silicon Valley parents are calling for transparency about a new ethnic studies course ahead of its launch this fall – but the California school district piloting the class is keeping tight-lipped.
Two high schools in wealthy Palo Alto will teach the new class to a small group of incoming freshmen before its state-mandated rollout in the 2025-26 school year, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Ethnic studies cover the experiences of minority groups in America, especially those of African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.
Members of the Palo Alto Parents Alliance (PA²) want to lay eyes on the lesson plan prior to its debut, fearing the controversial course will adopt a ‘liberated’ approach focused on discrimination and oppression versus an ‘inclusive’ one.
‘It would sure help if we as parents could see the curriculum,’ Alan Crystal, the father of an incoming senior, told the Chronicle. ‘A lot of what we want is just to see what’s being proposed, and to see the curriculum.’
‘It would sure help if we as parents could see the curriculum,’ Alan Crystal, (left) said. Members of the Palo Alto Parents Alliance (PA²) are demanding transparency and wish to see the ethnic studies curriculum prior to rollout
‘We aren’t against ethnic studies,’ said Sarith Honigstein, a member of PA². ‘Our issue is with a non-transparent rollout.’
Proponents argue the course helps minority students learn about their culture and history, particularly for points left out of typical textbooks.
Members of PA² garnered 1,400 signatures on a petition asking for transparency, saying they support ethnic studies but want the chance to provide input.
‘We aren’t against ethnic studies,’ Sarith Honigstein, a member of PA², told The Chronicle. ‘Our issue is with a non-transparent rollout.’
Bill Honig, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction, described a ‘liberated’ model in Ed Source as: ‘Presenting non-whites as victims and whites, individually and collectively through institutions, as oppressors.’
He described an ‘inclusive’ approach as: ‘Inclusive ethnic studies does not prioritize group membership over the uniqueness of each individual…Rejects group identity as the primary lens to understand history, society, culture and politics…Advances the importance of an individual’s characteristics.’
In a May letter, PA² argued ‘the approach that PAUSD [Palo Alto United School District] chooses to teach is important since divisiveness and turmoil have ensued in the school district boardrooms and classrooms that embraced “liberated” Ethnic Studies.’
Guillermo Lopez, the school district’s associate superintendent, insisted that students will receive an ‘inclusive’ curriculum
There is no one-size-fits-all curriculum for ethnic studies courses across the state as it’s largely been left up to each district on how they want to teach it.
The district held three input sessions with parents, who claim they received few answers.
The parents worry the class will teach a ‘liberated’ model instead of an ‘inclusive’ one. The school district denies that it’s working on a ‘liberated’ model and insisted to parents their students will learn an ‘inclusive’ curriculum, according to Associate Superintendent Guillermo Lopez (pictured)
The concerns haven’t come out of nowhere.
The school district covering nearby San Mateo received hundreds of complaints from parents saying their ethnic studies course was pushing a left-wing agenda, and Mountain View Los Altos High School District was sued by a nonprofit to make their curriculum documents public, the Chronicle reported.
The debate is not limited to California’s borders. Florida banned an AP course on African American studies, while Tennessee restricted teachers from teaching certain topics involving race.
DEI and critical race theory classes have sparked mass debate across America and they are becoming a focal point in the 2024 presidential election.
Parents in Palo Alto fear the course will end up like the lesson plan from the UC Berkeley History Social-Science Project, which partnered with the school district to help develop the concepts of the course.
PA² highlighted its concerns with Berkeley’s programming, noting that the project’s key concepts include calling a white male privileged and Western society oppressive.
Lopez told the Chronicle that Berkeley’s programming doesn’t ‘really apply to our course.’
Palo Alto High School (pictured) and Henry M. Gunn High School will be running a trial on a new ethnic studies course with a small group of incoming freshmen before its state-mandated rollout begins in the 2025-26 school year
Lopez insisted the pilot course coming this fall won’t be the final curriculum as the district wants to learn what works and what doesn’t
He also insisted the pilot course coming this fall won’t be the final curriculum.
‘All we can do is continue to have … conversations and train our staff to understand some of the do’s and don’t,’ Lopez said. ‘Our goal is to be inclusive of all communities.’
Jason Muñiz, the director of the Berkeley project, told the Chronicle that its role was to help ‘teachers tailor the class to their own district.’
