JIMENA says California's Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum needs more work

A 2016 law ordered the Board of Education to create a curriculum that would highlight the contributions of minorities in the development of California and the United States.

AUGUST 2, 2020 14:11

Social distancing dividers for students are seen in a classroom at St. Benedict School, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Montebello, near Los Angeles (photo credit: REUTERS) — Social distancing dividers for students are seen in a classroom at St. Benedict School, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Montebello, near Los Angeles

(photo credit: REUTERS)

Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) released a statement on Saturday stating that the newly drafted Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum while an "improvement" from the previous draft is inadequate in representing the demographics of California.

“JIMENA is part of a coalition of diverse Middle Eastern and North African communities, which strongly supports a high-quality ethnic studies curriculum that accurately reflects the demographics of our state," said Executive Director of JIMENA Sarah Levin in the organizational statement. "While the draft released today is an improvement over past versions, some of the supplemental materials that have been included are deeply problematic and exclusionary."

A 2016 law ordered the Board of Education to create a curriculum that would highlight the contributions of minorities in the development of California and the United States.

Last year the educational board released a draft of the said curriculum, which the California Legislative Jewish Caucus said “effectively erases the American Jewish experience,” “omits antisemitism,” “denigrates Jews” and “singles Israel out for condemnation.”

These supplemental materials ignore the stories of all our coalition members – who together represent an estimated 60% of Californians who hail from the Middle East and North Africa – while portraying the Arab American experience as a monolith to represent the region," Levin added. "The materials fail to adequately discuss anti-Semitism – and characterize American Jews only in the context of how some have secured White privilege, which is misleading and erases the experience of a significant part of our community, including Middle Eastern and North African Jews, as well of other Jews of Color.”

The 2019 draft provided sample courses in four main areas: African-American Studies, Hispanic Studies, Native American Studies and Asian American Studies. Supporters say the goal was to create inclusive and supportive environments for children of color.

State Sen. Ben Allen told the Los Angeles Times following the release of the 2019 draft that while he supported having an ethnic studies curriculum, he was “amazed that in a curriculum that has so much about bigotry and hatred of all sorts of different forms that there was not a single mention of antisemitism in the glossary.” He also pointed out that a number of other ethnic groups were excluded, including Irish Americans and Italian Americans.

The California State Board of Education rejected the 2019 proposal curriculum for the state’s schools in August of last year, saying it “falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned.”

Zachary Keyser and Sam Sokol/JTA contributed to this report.