ADL Action Alert for California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC)

  • August 9, 2019

UPDATE (August 13, 2019):

ADL welcomes the California Board of Education’s acknowledgment of the deeply problematic material in the model ethnic studies curriculum. We support including ethnic studies in high school curricula and we are eager to see it succeed. We look forward to hearing more about necessary and substantial revisions.

Troubling aspects of the draft curriculum include:

  • The exclusion of Jews or mention of anti-Semitism
  • Extreme anti-Israel content, including support for BDS
  • The use of negative Jewish stereotypes

See: Statement from California Board of Education on ESMC

 

As a leading provider of anti-bias education, ADL recognizes that attitudes and beliefs affect actions, and that each of us can have an impact on others, and ultimately, on our communities.  To that end, ADL supported adding ethnic studies to California’s high school curriculum (AB 331) which would hopefully promote respect among students as they learn about the diverse histories and contributions to our nation of their peers.

However, as supporters of the initiative, we were shocked by the proposed ESMC’s manifest indifference, and even hostility, to the American Jewish experience and community.  The curriculum erases American Jewish history by failing to include Jews in a meaningful way, and it neglects any discussion of anti-Semitism.  Further, it incorporates harmful anti-Jewish stereotypes in its completely inappropriate and biased criticism of Israel in a curriculum intended to focus on American ethnic groups.

ADL, along with many other Jewish communal organizations, is pushing back against attempts to distort the purpose of the bill and erase core aspects of Jewish identity and the American Jewish experience by asking our supporters to reach out through Friday, August 15 to offer public commentary.  We would like ADL supporters and allies to voice opposition to the inclusion of problematic material, such as the one-sided criticism of Israel, along with the exclusion of any discussion of the contributions of Jewish Californians to the state and any discussion of anti-Semitism.

TO DO:

  • Read articles about this issue such as this one or this editorial in the LA Times (more generally criticizing the Model Curriculum)
  • Review ADL’s Letter to the California Department of Education
  • Read the letter from the California Legislative Jewish Caucus and this letter from the California Legislative LGBT Caucus
  • Take a look at the Talking Points provided by Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA)

You can submit feedback by doing the following:

  • Download the Public Input Template form here.
  • Fill out the form.  It allows you to either make general comments about the ESMC or comment on specific chapters, lines, or pages.
    • For example, you may want to comment on the Glossary and Bibliography section, specifically page 1 for omitting a definition of anti-Semitism, and page 2 for including a definition for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions).
    • In the Sample Course Models, in the Arab American Studies Outline, you may wish to point out several problematic topics on page 234:

4596: Line Direct Action Front for Palestine and Black Lives Matter

4957: Call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel

4958: Comparative Border Studies: Palestine and Mexico

  • In the same section, on page 242, the ESMC uses politically biased language to refer to the founding of Israel (lines 5157-61) and on pages 268-69 (lines 5802-03) it uses the anti-Semitic trope of Jewish control of the media to baselessly accuse Israel of colonizing land.
  • Once completed, email the form to ethnicstudies@cde.ca.gov