萨克拉门托——加利福尼亚州将根据州长加文纽森周五签署的一项法案要求学生完成种族研究课程才能从高中毕业，据信这是第一个强制要求此类课程的州。
在 2020 年 5 月明尼阿波利斯警察杀害乔治·弗洛伊德 (George Floyd) 之后，加州领导人和活动家一年多地关注种族正义，之后颁布了新法律。与此同时，全国的保守派人士对 K-12 关于系统性种族主义的课程提出异议，并在学校董事会会议上抗议“批判种族理论”。
高中生直到 2029 年才需要参加毕业课程，而学校将被要求从 2025 年开始提供民族研究课程，让地区和教育官员有时间充分开发课程。由于一些族裔群体对如何教授他们的历史提出了担忧，因此该课程引起了激烈的争论。
纽森办公室周五指出，斯坦福大学的研究表明，种族研究“有助于扩大学校的教育机会，让学生了解加州的多元化社区，并提高学术参与度和成就。”
该州花了数年时间为民族研究制定了示范课程，并引起了犹太立法党团的批评，该党团称初稿省略了他们的全部历史。学校仍然可以根据议会第 101 号法案在当地制定自己的计划。
该法案要求学区考虑州教育委员会为创建课程框架而采取的“漫长、彻底、审议和包容的过程”，但如果当地教育委员会在公开听证会的情况下批准，则允许学校制定自己的计划.
该州于 3 月批准的民族研究框架促进了“社会意识”，并将解决“制度化的优势系统”和偏见形式，包括反黑人、仇外心理和反犹太主义。
该法案的作者、议员何塞·梅迪纳（D-Riverside）一再推动种族研究立法无济于事。纽森去年否决了一项类似的法案，称虽然他同意这项任务，但他担心在犹太人和阿拉伯裔美国人组织提出担忧之后，课程仍然“不够平衡”。
前州长杰里·布朗 (Jerry Brown) 也在 2018 年否决了一项尝试，称虽然他重视种族研究，但学校已经可以在没有授权的情况下自行提供。
实施的长期拖延反映了在制定课程作业和要求其毕业时潜在的后勤和政治挑战。纽森官员在一份声明中说，该法案“提供了许多保障措施，以确保课程没有偏见或偏执，并适合所有学生”。
麦地那在一份声明中说：“我要感谢无数年轻人、高中生和大学生、教师和教授，他们组织、示威、抵制课程并进行绝食抗议，要求建立一个更加公平和包容的教育体系。” . “今天签署 AB 101 是为所有学生提供平等教育的长期斗争中的一步。”
SACRAMENTO — California will require students to complete an ethnic studies course to graduate from high school under a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday, and it’s believed to be the first state to mandate such coursework.
The new law comes after a year in which California leaders and activists focused more on racial justice following the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It also comes as conservatives nationwide have taken issue with K-12 lessons on systemic racism and protested at school board meetings against “critical race theory.”
High school students won’t be required to take the courses for graduation until 2029, while schools will be required to offer ethnic studies courses starting in 2025, giving districts and education officials time to fully develop coursework. The curriculum has been subject to intense debate as some ethnic groups have raised concerns with how their history will be taught.
Newsom’s office on Friday pointed to research from Stanford University that shows ethnic studies “help expand educational opportunities in schools, teach students about the diverse communities that comprise California, and boost academic engagement and attainment.”
The state took several years to develop a model curriculum for ethnic studies and drew criticism from the Legislative Jewish Caucus, which said the first draft omitted their full history. Schools will still be able to locally develop their own plan under Assembly Bill 101.
The bill asks districts to consider the “lengthy, thorough, deliberative and inclusive process” the State Board of Education took on to create a framework for the curriculum but allows schools to develop their own plan if approved by a local school board subject to public hearings.
The state’s ethnic studies framework, approved in March, promotes “a social consciousness” and will address “institutionalized systems of advantage” and forms of bigotry including anti-Blackness, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.
The bill’s author, Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside), has repeatedly pushed ethnic studies legislation to no avail. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year, saying that while he agreed with the mission, he had concerns that the curriculum remained “insufficiently balanced” after concerns from Jewish and Arab American organizations.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown also vetoed an attempt in 2018, saying that while he valued ethnic studies, schools can already offer it on their own without a mandate.
The lengthy delay in implementation reflects the potential logistical and political challenges in developing the coursework and mandating it for graduation. The bill “provides a number of safeguards to ensure that courses will be free from bias or bigotry and appropriate for all students,” Newsom officials said in a statement.
“I want to acknowledge the countless young people, high school and college students, teachers and professors, who have organized, demonstrated, boycotted classes, and gone on hunger strikes to demand a more equitable and inclusive educational system,” Medina said in a statement. “The signing of AB 101 today is one step in the long struggle for equal education for all students.”
