On Sunday, the Sacramento Bee editorial noted low voter turn out and
insisted on a need for change. But, these establishment sources seek minor
technical changes restricted by their own narrow views of the problem rather than looking at more substantive issues.
Young people, particularly students of
color, have low levels of attachment to California and U.S. civil society
messages to vote in significant part because the government institution
they encounter the most- the schools- ignore the students own history, cultures
and experiences. Children and young adults need to see themselves in the
curriculum.
Policy wonks and the Bee Editorial
Board urge changing registration and voting
systems because I guess in their segregated white world, students of color are not
seen, they are not important. This is, I grant, a little better than the civics curriculum promoted by the Koch brothers in the post below.
When the 51 % of the California students
who are Latino , and the 9 % who are Asian do not see themselves as part of official history, for many their
sense of self is marginalized. Marginalization negatively
impacts their connections with school their success at school and the
likelihood that they will vote as adults.
Marginalization contributes
to an up to 50% drop out rate for Latinos and some Asian students.
A fundamental way to engage students in
civic culture is to engage them in their own schools and communities.
That is where the students most encounter civic opportunities. A more accurate, more complete
history taught in schools in Ethnic studies courses would
provide some students with a a sense of self, of
direction, of purpose, even a sense that they should stay in
school and learn more. It might even encourage them to read newspapers. And, ethnic studies would provide Anglo students with an informed, accurate history
of the political and cultural development of our society.
In November the LAUSD board
voted to require courses to offer ethnic studies classes at all of the district
high schools. A few courses had already
been offered, but this provides a substantial increase in offering.
San Francisco Unified will
consider a similar decision at their December meeting.
Ethnic studies classes should help young
people acquire and learn to use the civics skills, knowledge, and
attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens
throughout their lives.
California should add their history to the
textbooks. Add their literature to the literature books. Include all
students in Ethnic Studies classes. These
students are California’s children. The state can start by revising the
1987 era California History/ Social
Science Framework to include their history. The California Dept. of Education
has diverted prior attempts to
substantially revise the framework.
In 2014 some California policy “leaders”
called for a renewal of civic learning in order to promote civic
education. Unfortunately, but
predictably, they have not proposed increasing ethnic studies. Instead, they have written a report, Revitalizing
K-12 Civic Learning in California, and they call it a Blue Print for
Action. http://www.powerofdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/CLTF-Final-Report.pdf
The report appropriately recognizes
the diversity of California students. They say,
“Civic learning is also vital for our increasingly
diverse California society. In 2012-2013, our 6.2 million K-12 students were 53
percent Latino, 26 percent white, 9 percent Asian and 6 percent African American, with the remaining 6
percent comprised of other
ethnicities. In addition, an increasing number of our students are not native speakers of
English. Almost 4 in 10 kindergarteners are English language learners. This
diversity, and the attention it requires, is now acknowledged in our school funding
model. The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) recognizes the necessity of investing
in the reduction and ultimate removal of inequitable outcomes in California
public schools. Revitalizing civic learning opportunities, in an equitable manner, can
contribute to meeting these goals.”
While it is beneficial to
recognize the need to “revitalize civic learning opportunities, in an equitable
manner,” it is not equitable to continue to impose an inaccurate and deceptive
view of history on the students.
While it is accurate that we
have a general problem of civic engagement of the young, it is also true
that we have a very specific problem with the rate of Latino and Asian voter
participation and civic engagement.
The report, as is common now , is well
illustrated with compelling photos of very pleasant multi racial and
multiethnic student faces. They even note that the current
History Social Science Framework and Standards are over 15 years out of date- a
reminder that the State Board of Education and the California Legislature
should heed. As a minimum the Latino Caucus of the Legislature should pay
attention.
Regretfully the curricular directions
proposed in the report take little or no
account of the diversity of the students in our schools. This is what happens
when insular policy “consultants” do not consider the input of students and of
teachers.
The prior legislative session passed two
bills to increase youth voter participation:
Assembly Bill 700 (2013) requires the
Instructional Quality Curriculum in all California high schools. This bill was
developed to increase civic participation and education
Assembly Bill 1817 (2014) encourages voter
participation among high school students, allowing students to register or pre-
register qualified classmates on high school campuses to vote in upcoming
elections.
These new laws
will do no harm, but the report and these new laws miss the single most direct and
clear issue. The 1987 California
History Social Science Framework still in use today to guide the
selection of California textbooks expanded African American,
Native American, and women’s history coverage but remains totally inadequate in
the coverage of Latinos and Asians. The only significant change between the
1987 and the 2005 adopted Framework was the addition of a new cover, a cover
letter, and a photo of Cesar Chavez. This is the blind writing reports for the
blind.
A more accurate, more complete
history provided in Ethnic studies courses would provide some
students with a a sense of self, of direction, of
purpose, even a sense that they should stay in school and learn
more. And, ethnic studies would provide Anglo students with an informed, accurate history of
the political and cultural development of the state. Ethnic studies classes should help young
people acquire and learn to use the civics skills, knowledge, and
attitudes that will prepare them to be competent and responsible citizens
throughout their lives.
The Department of Education and the Board of
Education can start by revising the
California History/ Social Science Framework to include the history of the
majority of students in the schools by joining
LA Unified in requiring Ethnic Studies Classes in high school. This would be
much more effective than the required voter registration efforts of the report
on Civic Competence.
The Framework determines what goes into the
California textbooks. Having sought for decades to change this
framework, I recognize how difficult it will be. The next revision is up for consideration in
2015/2016. If the CDE stacks the
committee membership for writing a new framework, as they did last time, we can
expect little change.
There is a network of scholars and
professionals interested in writing a more complete history of our state. This has been said before and we will keep reminding these folks.
Cordially,
Dr. Duane E. Campbell
Democracy and Education Institute
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