In the back of the room of the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) district office, behind the chairs, students and teachers held signs reading “Let Teachers Lead.” Towards the front, individuals were going up to address the PAUSD school board in a meeting about the Ethnic Studies class.
The PAUSD School Board approved the Ethnic Studies class as a graduation requirement on Jan. 23. These meetings had parents and teachers alike discussing the matter for several school meetings.
Ethnic Studies is a one-semester required course for freshmen. It is designed to inform and teach students about the histories of the four major ethnic groups in the United States: Asian Americans, African Americans, Indigenous Americans, and Latino Americans.
With a final vote of 3-2, Ethnic Studies was successfully passed. Board members Shana Segal, Shounak Dharap, and Josh Salcman voted in favor, and Rowena Chiu and Alison Kamhi voted against it.
Despite the approval of this controversial class, uncertainty still brews within the district and the community.
Supporters of Ethnic Studies believe it would be a valuable course for students to explore and learn about histories of other cultures, other than those of the Eurocentric perspective.
“I believe that the only way that we are gonna get beyond racism, anti-semitism, is that we have classes where we have bold conversations,” Palo Alto resident and former public defender Aram Finkelstein said. “Bottom line, don’t censor either party, let conversations start in our schools.”
Sean Allen, President of the Silicon Valley National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was concerned that our current American history curriculum mainly consists of Eurocentric history while omitting the histories of other races and cultures.
“All levels of discrimination are impacting some people’s point-of-view,” Allen said.
Critics, including some Paly students, have voiced their concern towards the Ethnic Studies program.
An unnamed Paly student requested to be anonymous due to safety concerns.
“I am very against having Ethnic Studies as a required course,” the unnamed student said. “Ethnic Studies can (…) create an image in the students’ mind of America being a hideous country when, in reality, it is our home and something that we should be proud of.”
“I do not think it would be as balanced as it might be advertised,” the unnamed student said.
While on the opposing side, Senior Tyler Kramer supports the program.
“If they [teachers] have run tests and they are all in agreement that this is the program that the school needs and should be implemented, I will absolutely back the teachers even if it wasn’t something I personally agree with,” Kramer said.
Freshman Kyle Chen believes that it is not necessary for Ethnic Studies to be a separate class but rather incorporated into the existing curriculum.
“I don’t want it to be required because I don’t want to force everyone to take that one class, I don’t think it’s that useful.” Chen said, “Maybe just a unit in history [class] would be fine, but I don’t think [that it should be] a whole semester.”