Did you know that one of the largest mass lynchings in United States history was of 17 Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles? Did you know about the Mendez v. Westminster School District Supreme Court case that paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education?
As a whole, Americans’ knowledge about United States history is already painfully lacking. In 2010, the National Assessment of Educational Progress report found that only 12% of 12th graders were at least proficient in United States History. It is equally concerning that our history curricula are white-washed. Most state curricula do not sufficiently cover non-white American and World history, and most curricula only devote 8-9% of classroom time to Black history and even less time on other histories.
This neglect is a disservice to the present and future of our country and to all children, but especially young people of color. During a time in the United States of escalating racial tensions and a growing partisan divide, the need for ethnic studies is greater than ever before. Not only do ethnic studies help break down stereotypes and help undo prejudices, but an inclusive history curriculum also helps students of color to learn their histories, see themselves in history and in the classroom, and can help decrease the achievement gap between white and non-white students.
Ethnic studies, created in the United States after widespread activism in the 1960s, are centered on an ethnic group, their narratives, their points of view, their experiences, and their history. They focus on affirming students’ identities and teaching culturally relevant history, and while they tend to be aimed at students of that ethnicity, they also engage other students and create more welcoming, inclusive environments for all students.
Ethnic studies have been incorporated into curricula in several California school districts, as well as in Seattle, Indiana, Arizona, Alaska, and several other locations. Where ethnic studies have been implemented, schools have seen improvements in engagement, literacy, graduation rates, and school attendance. In a San Francisco high school pilot program focusing on students at high risk of dropping out, attendance rose by 21%, GPAs improved by 1.4 points, and there was an improvement in math and science—and English language arts, but less so—after the introduction of ethnic studies. The effects were especially concentrated on boys and Hispanic students.
Similarly, at Tucson High School in Arizona, 100% of students enrolled in Mexican-American studies graduated, with 85% going to college, compared to 48% of Latinx students dropping out of high school. Despite the successes of the program, not everyone supports ethnic studies. Arizona lawmakers banned all ethnic studies in 2017, before a federal judge found the ban unconstitutional.
Introducing ethnic studies allows students to navigate their own identities and see themselves in history, literature, the arts, innovation, and more. When they relate more to what they are learning, they are more engaged and invested. It can empower students who otherwise feel invisible or left out in school. Research has shown that students whose ethnic identities are affirmed, rather than denied and rejected, in school also tend to see others more positively, improving inter-group relations.
What can New York City public schools learn from this? While aggregate high school graduation rates in NYC have been increasing in recent years, dis-aggregated data shows that the lowest performing schools saw an 11% decrease in graduation rates between 2008 and 2015, while the highest performing schools saw a 7% increase—to nearly 100% graduation rates in 2015. The schools with decreasing graduation rates are disproportionately comprised of low-income Black and Hispanic students. 82% of white students graduated in 4 years, but only 64% of Hispanic students and 65.4% of Black students did.
But could ethnic studies be key in helping to close the achievement gap in New York City public schools and to improving our public schools overall? Possibly.
The East Coast has been much slower in incorporating ethnic studies in school curricula. There is no widespread research on the reason why, but it could be because many of the West Coast programs have come out of years of student struggle, particularly those born out of the particular moment in the 1960s and 1970s.
The West Coast was the birthplace of the Black Panther Party and the Third World Liberation Front, with the latter playing a critical role in the San Francisco State University strike that led to the creation of the first ethnic studies program. Similarly, in the more recent case of Seattle, the Seattle School Board first began discussing an ethnic studies requirement after student action and the eventual involvement of the Seattle NAACP. These movements and protests demanded ethnic studies and culturally relevant education.
There were no such large movements and demands on the East Coast, although there are some small coalitions at the college level. Hunter College has its own group fighting for Asian American Studies—the Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH)—but there is also little being done at the K-12 level in New York City to institute Ethnic Studies.
New York City still has a long way to go. Only about 29% of teachers say that they receive ongoing training on issues of race and ethnicity in the classroom, and of those, only 10% receive Department of Education support for this. Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken a step forward by investing $23 million in “culturally responsive education and anti-bias training in schools,” but this does not necessarily mean teaching Ethnic Studies.
The problems with New York City’s public education system are complex. Ethnic studies won’t solve funding problems, nor will it solve issues with essentially segregated schools or the debates around specialized high schools. But given the successes of ethnic studies in other locations across the country and considering the diversity of New York City students and residents, ethnic studies could be valuable in helping to decrease the achievement gap while fostering a more compassionate, critical, and informed young population and a positive school environment for all students.
