Dear Friend,
Below is information about California’s Ethnic Studies Curriculum. In its current form, it does not include any meaningful information about anti-Semitism and how to combat it. Anti-Semitism is the #1 religious hate crime in California and #3 ethnic hate crime in California.
The curriculum should do the following:
- Add safeguards against promoting one-sided narrow political viewpoints in the classroom;
- Include the history and experience of ethnic groups who have been left out of the curriculum, such as a lesson plan about California’s Jewish-American Middle Eastern communities;
- Teach students to combat antisemitism and other forms of bigotry; and
- Respect the rule of law and adhere to principles of transparency.
Please consider sending a letter insisting on an improved version of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum to State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, the State Board of Education and the Instructional Quality Commission: https://actnow.ajc.org/kX5wBIe
Take action by September 30th. Your messages are needed to urge California decision-makers to get it right and produce an inclusive and balanced ethnic studies model curriculum that will be the model for states across the country.
Here is some additional information provided by AJC:
TAKE ACTION FOR A MORE INCLUSIVE AND BALANCED CALIFORNIA ETHNIC STUDIES
Background: In August, 2019 the first draft of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (“ESMC”) was released, as mandated by state law. Twenty thousand people complained about offensive material and political biases of the first draft. Governor Newsom, the State Board of Education, and California Superintendent Tony Thurmond all promised that the draft would be substantially revised.
In mid-August, 2020, a second draft was released, which removed most overt antisemitic references. Only four “core ethnicities” (Black, Latino, Asian and Native American) were represented in the second draft. Moreover, the California Department of Education, responding to thirty thousand comments from the Arab American community, promised to develop an Arab lesson plan (as part of the Asian-American section) and release it in November 2020.
Jewish Americans are excluded from the second draft, save passing reference to the Holocaust and a small unit which asks students to write an essay about “the experience of Jewish and Irish Americans gaining white privilege in America.” There is no meaningful mention of contemporary antisemitism, no mention that the majority of all religious hate crimes in America are against Jews, nor even a definition of antisemitism despite laying out countless other types of bigotry and bias. More generally, the ESMC is based on a specific movement within ethnic studies – “Critical Ethnic Studies” – which promotes as its educational aim, “radical resistances linked to global liberationist movements.”
Related, there is legislation – AB331 — that just passed the California Legislature and is sitting on the Governor’s desk to be signed by September 30. AB331 makes ethnic studies (based on the ESMC) a high school graduation requirement.
Several organizations developed action alerts that enable you to easily send emails to state officials to voice your concerns about AB331 and urge state officials to revise the ESMC with these key points:
- Add safeguards against promoting one-sided narrow political viewpoints in the classroom;
- Include the history and experience of ethnic groups who have been left out of the curriculum, such as a lesson plan about California’s Jewish-American Middle Eastern communities;
- Teach students to combat antisemitism and other forms of bigotry; and
- Respect the rule of law and adhere to principles of transparency.
Please take two minutes to take action and share them widely. For those skeptical of petitions and auto-emails, please note: they matter here because state officials look at numbers, and so you can sign more than one. Your help is urgently needed!
Thank you for helping to ensure a balanced and inclusive ethnic studies curriculum!
Wishing you a Shana Tova,
Rabbi Jaymee Alpert
Congregation Beth David
408-257-3333