California passes bill mandating ethnic studies as graduation requirement for high schools

Newsom signed the politically contentious bill amid heated debate in Orange County regarding the implementation of ethnic studies in the district. Panther Archives.

California Governor Gavin Newsom made history Oct. 8 when he signed Assembly Bill 101. The legislation, which requires all public high school students in the state to take a semester of ethnic studies, is a controversial first for the nation. 

“Ethnic studies courses enable students to learn their own stories and those of their classmates,” Newsom wrote in his signing statement. “Students deserve to see themselves in their studies, and they must understand our nation’s full history if we expect them to one day build a more just society.”

The bill requires the adoption of an ethnic studies curriculum for the graduating class of 2030, providing five years for schools to prepare for the new requirement. The implementation of the curriculum remains largely up to individual school districts to pursue. 

Emily Penner, a professor of education at the University of California, Irvine, believes that the five-year period before implementing the course across the state allows for school districts to address challenges around teacher-training and formulating curricula. 

“We have some lead time to try and get it right, and the first thing, of course, is that in some places, we have to do a lot of work to help teachers get ready to teach this kind of class,” Penner told The Panther. “The other thing that’s going to be important is that every district has to decide what their version of ethnic studies is going to look like and an important component of ethnic studies is really centering the experiences of marginalized groups that are relevant to the local community.”

The Orange County Board of Education hosted forums this year debating the inclusion of ethnic studies in public education. A panelist in support of ethnic studies dropped out of the first forum, citing a one-sided majority “vehemently opposed” ethnic studies, while the second forum had only one panelist in support of the course. 

The question of including ethnic studies in classrooms, let alone mandating it, has been political for many. In 2010, the state of Arizona banned a Mexican-American studies class on the basis that it “denigrate(s) American values,” despite a study illustrating that students who participated in ethnic studies courses were more likely to graduate from high school and pass standardized tests than students who do not. Critics of the course have called it “un-American” and accused Newsom of promoting Marxist ideologies.

Brandy Shufutinsky, a program director for The Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies, disagrees with critiques that ethnic studies as a field is inherently political. In fact, she agrees with the notion that politics do not belong in the classroom.

“I think there’s a danger in bringing individual educators’ personal politics into the classroom,” Shufutinsky said. “My story as a Black American and the experience of my people wasn’t political, … and I get a little weary when people try to politicize that, because it's been for a different agenda than just actually discussing history and what actually happened.” 

Penner, whose expertise concerns evaluating the effectiveness of education policy, has conducted research on the effects of ethnic studies on students. Her research was centered around San Francisco students in a pilot program for ethnic studies and found that the course reduced dropout rates and improved academic engagement.

“A concern that people have voiced with ethnic studies (is that) it diverts attention away from some academic subjects (but) the course actually improved their performance,” Penner said. “They became more academically engaged and successful. The concerns that people have that this might be taking up valuable time or may divert them from something that may make them more academically successful were not borne out.”

Lisa Sparks, a member of the Orange County School Board and professor of Communications at Chapman University, questioned results of research conducted in San Francisco schools and their applicability to Orange County demographics at the second forum on ethnic studies. Sparks did not respond to The Panther’s request for an interview. 

California has a long history of campaigning for ethnic studies, originating in 1969 in the Bay Area. It has been over 30 years since Berkeley High, the first high school in California to mandate ethnic studies as a graduation requirement, implemented its program. A proposal for including ethnic studies in classrooms was vetoed by Newsom as recently as 2020.  

“I think seeing (the bill) signed after going through so many drafts is actually encouraging,” Shufutinsky said. “It was a reflection of the great privilege we have living in a democracy and seeing actual community engagement in an issue that's so important that the issue of educating. It's very reminiscent of what our democratic process actually should look like in a lot more spheres other than education.”

Cathery Yeh, a program director for Chapman’s new ethnic studies minor, is a strong supporter of Assembly Bill 101, but acknowledges that it will likely not be faultless. 

“Like any bill, it is not perfect; it is always a set of compromises,” Yeh told The Panther. “The bill accounts for a need for training. For us to teach something that has not been in place at schools takes time.”

Yeh believes that it is vital to implement ethnic studies at the K-12 level rather than beginning exposure to ethnic studies at a university level. 

“We shouldn’t have to wait until college — because not every student goes to college — to learn about the histories of all Americans,” Yeh said. “I would argue that ethnic studies is the history of all (of) America.”

Iliana Maiz, the president of Chapman’s Ethnic Studies Society, wishes she had an ethnic studies program at her high school. In her freshman year of high school, Maiz participated in collecting signatures for an initiative to implement ethnic studies in the state.

“I definitely think (having an ethnic studies course in my high school) would have helped me personally in my own goal setting and my own achievements,” Maiz, a sophomore political science major,  told The Panther. “I really hope that it’ll help more kids be able to have something that I didn’t have.”

Maiz believes there is much work to be done for residents of California to implement their vision of what they want out of the ethnic studies course. She urges individuals to attend school board meetings and communicate their desires for the program, and she said she plans on rallying the Ethnic Studies Society to attend some of these meetings as well. 

“I think it’s very important to make sure that these kids aren’t getting, like, a very watered down version of ethnic studies,” Maiz said. “I would highly urge anybody that is heavily invested in ethnic studies (to) please, please, please go to school board meetings.”