Starting this school year, Aragon has joined other district schools in offering an Ethnic Studies course to incoming students, which will be a graduation requirement starting with the class of 2024. This course change was in advance of California Assembly Bill 331, which mandates that all schools charter an Ethnic Studies course requirement by the 2024-2025 academic year. For years, people within the San Mateo Union High School District have been pushing to implement the class. After receiving waivers to replace the previous Contemporary World Studies course with Ethnic Studies, and demonstrating the success of the piloted class, the district implemented the graduation requisite.
In past years, Aragon offered Ethinic Studies as an optional course for upperclassmen, providing select individuals with an elective in addition to their traditional history classes. Now, all first year students will take one semester of Ethnic Studies, and will then take a combined Modern World History I and II their sophomore year. Students will have a new textbook, “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki, which places a focus on race, gender, sexuality and activism. By implementing personal stories and modern issues into the curriculum, the relevancy of the subject distinguishes Ethnic Studies from other classes.
“We think that having [Ethnic Studies] in our schools is so important to honor and share the stories of people whose narratives are generally the counter narrative in other classes,” said Ethnic Studies teacher Courtney Caldwell.
The Ethnic Studies course aims at redirecting the focus to diversity of experiences, providing young students with the opportunity to discover their own unique identities. In comparison to other history courses, which focus on democratic ideals and largely European history, the new course will emphasize the equal representation of all ethnicities.
“We think that having [Ethnic Studies] in our schools is so important to honor and share the stories of people whose narratives are generally the counter narrative in other classes”
“This is purely about seeing the variety of ethnicities and cultures as equal, not as minorities” Ethnic Studies teacher Steve Henderson said. “[The course] is unique in that way, because … it will give people a chance to develop some confidence.”
In addition to building personal identities, the class has an even more central emphasis on student activism. Today, it is nearly impossible to ignore the injustices portrayed in the media and on the streets. From protests in cities to petitions circulating on social media, the call for social and political change has never been greater.
“I hope that students will understand some fundamental realities of being a citizen in the U.S. and accept responsibility,” Henderson said. “There are degrees of privilege in the country, and we have a responsibility to be active in working towards eliminating racism.”
The course will challenge high schoolers to bring about lasting change in their communities. Building self-awareness and listening skills are crucial when taking the Ethnic Studies class, because effective communication is the first step towards reevaluating beliefs and viewpoints.
With COVID-19 turning the traditional ways of education upside down, teaching has become one of the biggest challenges facing nearly all schools. For Aragon, which has remained online since March, Zoom classrooms have become the new reality.
Especially in a course so heavily built in trust among students, the quest for mutual comfort has been an ongoing big obstacle for the Ethnic Studies teachers.
“We do community circles, [which] is an opportunity [to bond],” Caldwell said. “We do these things called Ethnic Studies Mixtapes [where] we play a song that’s Ethnic Studies related and it’s a different way to get students engaged and, hopefully, help them build that connection with each other.”
“There are degrees of privilege in the country, and we have a responsibility to be active in working towards eliminating racism”
Despite all the challenges faced, the Ethnic Studies course has already shown hopeful signs for positive change through bonding exercises, class discussions and personal experiences.
“In class, we [read a Mayan] poem in Lak’ Ech to ground our practice and we recited it in Spanish in English. In one class, I was able to get the whole poem read out. They each read one line in Spanish one line in English, and it was like goosebumps. It was just amazing that they were willing to put themselves out there already.”
Hopefully, in years from now, a ripple effect, as described by Henderson, will develop as future leaders will all have taken the course, and consequently adopt a questioning yet respectful mentality towards the people around them.
Ethnic Studies teacher Jerrica Keane, along with the other teachers, remains optimistic that positive social change is possible, counting on the lessons from the course and the strong community built through its teachings.
“Our society needs to change,” Keane said. “I think [that] our students are going to be the ones that do that when they learn how to not accept things as they are.”
While Ethnic Studies will not single handedly cure the deeply rooted societal problems facing this generation, the teachers are hopeful that through an increased sense of self-awareness and encouraged empathy, students will be far better prepared to bring about lasting progress in their immediate communities, and beyond.
