I believe this is a mis-reporting, or talking about part of the curriculum. See pages 27 and 28 of this presentation:
We believe that all courses should incorporate Ethnic Studies curriculum, however at a minimum, students should participate in 4-5 ethnic studies classes in high school, i.e., a minimum of 1 ethnic studies course per year. [...]
A graduation requirement is a way to ensure that Ethnic Studies classes reach all students.
All math, world languages, and all visual and performing arts courses should have an ethnic studies equivalent.
Ah, I think you’re right. It seems like they want an “ethnic studies” version of everything and students have to take at least one ethnic studies course per year. I’m not a huge fan of that and it seems like it is taking some well-deserved criticism.
Looking at this presentation through the lens of the original post, it seems like what the Ethnic Studies Board is trying to do is create safe spaces and reduce perceived harms against minorities (hence, I think, why they want to make sure there’s an “ethnic studies” version of every core class: so that the people they feel will best benefit from this curriculum can use it for their entire high school education).
I’m not sure they have fully considered the consequences of doing this (especially opportunity cost: all the class time spent on “ethnic studies” math is time not spent on, well, math) but I see no objection with the goal of providing minority students with a curriculum which will fit them better, in and of itself.
This is an interesting discussion which touches on education philosophy (how do we know the curriculum the Ethnic Studies Board has produced actually accomplishes its goals?), optimal resource allocation, language, culture, and (yes) race. But it is not a discussion we can have if seeing the phrase, “countering dominant narratives” makes the participants blind to anything else there.
Ah, I think you’re right. It seems like they want an “ethnic studies” version of everything and students have to take at least one ethnic studies course per year. I’m not a huge fan of that and it seems like it is taking some well-deserved criticism.
FYI, there is virtually no criticism within the city / school district itself, because (1) it’s too progressive / left-leaning and (2) anyone who does offer criticism gets labeled as “racist” or “white supremacist”, even if the critic isn’t white. (Look up “internalized oppression” if you’re not already familiar.)
Looking at this presentation through the lens of the original post, it seems like what the Ethnic Studies Board is trying to do is create safe spaces and reduce perceived harms against minorities (hence, I think, why they want to make sure there’s an “ethnic studies” version of every core class: so that the people they feel will best benefit from this curriculum can use it for their entire high school education).
That’s part of it, but it’s also about turning students (and not just minorities) into social justice activists. See this quote from page 31 of the presentation:
Critical pedagogy aims to engage students in an exploration of their world in order to gain a political and critical consciousness. It is based on the belief that historical events are the result of a series of contradictions and their solutions.
Humanizing pedagogy is a component of critical pedagogy that encourages learners to recognize oppression doesn’t just happen and they are agents of change.
Educators who employ critical pedagogy accept that the practice of teaching can never be apolitical when systems of oppression exist. Educators see education as a tool of resistance and liberation.
Critical pedagogy transforms the learning environment from one of passivity to one of action and change. Students don’t learn for the sake of learning, but learn to understand the how and why of social systems that oppress certain groups and privilege others.
Combine this with other forms of political correctness (e.g., it’s taboo to even talk about “culture” as a factor in educational disparities; any differences in educational outcomes must be the result of racism/oppression) and it’s hard not to be concerned about the outcome of this educational philosophy and to see certain worrying historical parallels.
BTW, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to get into a big object-level discussion about this here. Initially I just wanted to offer some clear-cut evidence to correct your belief that “bring SJ into all the subject at school” is unlikely. Hopefully that’s settled at this point?
Agreed on both counts, yeah. I still don’t think this is actually evidence against the possibility of the political nexus shifting away from social justice (in fact, I would count it as evidence we’re near peak intensity) and I still think there is a lot of value to trying to understand and capture interesting insights from the social justice movement, but I don’t think a real concerted effort do do this is possible until things relax a bit.
If someone can think of reasonable ways to verify whether the cultural toxicity of the SJ fight has ‘moved on’ I would be willing to make a public prediction that it will have done so in five years. Maybe some kind of random sample of twitter fights? Or a survey of leftist tumblr?
I believe this is a mis-reporting, or talking about part of the curriculum. See pages 27 and 28 of this presentation:
Ah, I think you’re right. It seems like they want an “ethnic studies” version of everything and students have to take at least one ethnic studies course per year. I’m not a huge fan of that and it seems like it is taking some well-deserved criticism.
Looking at this presentation through the lens of the original post, it seems like what the Ethnic Studies Board is trying to do is create safe spaces and reduce perceived harms against minorities (hence, I think, why they want to make sure there’s an “ethnic studies” version of every core class: so that the people they feel will best benefit from this curriculum can use it for their entire high school education).
I’m not sure they have fully considered the consequences of doing this (especially opportunity cost: all the class time spent on “ethnic studies” math is time not spent on, well, math) but I see no objection with the goal of providing minority students with a curriculum which will fit them better, in and of itself.
This is an interesting discussion which touches on education philosophy (how do we know the curriculum the Ethnic Studies Board has produced actually accomplishes its goals?), optimal resource allocation, language, culture, and (yes) race. But it is not a discussion we can have if seeing the phrase, “countering dominant narratives” makes the participants blind to anything else there.
FYI, there is virtually no criticism within the city / school district itself, because (1) it’s too progressive / left-leaning and (2) anyone who does offer criticism gets labeled as “racist” or “white supremacist”, even if the critic isn’t white. (Look up “internalized oppression” if you’re not already familiar.)
That’s part of it, but it’s also about turning students (and not just minorities) into social justice activists. See this quote from page 31 of the presentation:
Combine this with other forms of political correctness (e.g., it’s taboo to even talk about “culture” as a factor in educational disparities; any differences in educational outcomes must be the result of racism/oppression) and it’s hard not to be concerned about the outcome of this educational philosophy and to see certain worrying historical parallels.
BTW, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to get into a big object-level discussion about this here. Initially I just wanted to offer some clear-cut evidence to correct your belief that “bring SJ into all the subject at school” is unlikely. Hopefully that’s settled at this point?
Agreed on both counts, yeah. I still don’t think this is actually evidence against the possibility of the political nexus shifting away from social justice (in fact, I would count it as evidence we’re near peak intensity) and I still think there is a lot of value to trying to understand and capture interesting insights from the social justice movement, but I don’t think a real concerted effort do do this is possible until things relax a bit.
If someone can think of reasonable ways to verify whether the cultural toxicity of the SJ fight has ‘moved on’ I would be willing to make a public prediction that it will have done so in five years. Maybe some kind of random sample of twitter fights? Or a survey of leftist tumblr?