The proper role of the public schools is to bring together students of different backgrounds and teach them to treat each other as individuals.

“oppressed and oppressor.”

“I wrestled with them,” he said. “I ran cross-country with them. I played football with them. I love them.”

“No Spanish radio stations, no Spanish billboards, no Spanish TV stations, no Spanish newspapers. This is America, speak English.” On another, he wrote of the Tucson program: “The rejection of American values and embracement of the values of Mexico in La Raza classrooms is the rejection of success and embracement of failure.”

withhold 10 percent of the Tucson Unified School District’s state funding because of the violation of the statute, and the district decided to end the Mexican-American studies program as a result.

“promote the overthrow of the United States government,” “promote resentment toward a race or class of people,” “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

desire to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fears,”

preparing pupils to be global citizens with an appreciation for the contributions of multiple cultures, will close the achievement gap, reduce pupil truancy, increase pupil enrollment, reduce dropout rates, and increase graduation rates.

but withcumbersome guardrails that threaten the integrity of the scholarly fields ofethnic studies.

A 2016 Stanford Study Found Academic benefits to students who took theEthnic Studies Pilot Program in the San Francisco Unified School District

HB 2281 was passed, banning Tucson Unified School District’s MexicanAmerican/Raza Studies; with 48 course offerings, MARS is the largest EthnicStudies program for any school district nationwide.

1972

For example, in a U.S. History course one might incorporate a lesson onthe construction of the intercontinental railroad mentioning the contributions of the Chinese railroadworkers. In contrast, an Ethnic Studies or Asian American Studies course would examine the patterns ofimmigration law, economic exploitation, racism, and colonialism from the perspective of AsianAmericans.

To ask a student to study a world in which they cannot see themselves is to relegate them to a blindness of the soul and a crippling of the spirit. A model ethnic studies curriculum is a momentous step towards repairing the breach."

This is a win for all students in California and recognizes the diversity of today’s students.