Dear Friends,

The third draft of the K-12 Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum has been released, and we wanted to share an update. Despite changes in some specific content and wording (thanks to your voices!), the polarizing Critical Ethnic Studies (CES) framework remains unchanged, continuing to pervert a potentially beneficial curriculum. The CES foundation promotes critical race theory, indoctrinating a narrow political ideology that glorifies violence, elevates separatist resistance, and divides students into victims and oppressors. 

Draft 3 added words about the importance of balance and multiple perspectives (thus creating the appearance of balance), but didn't actually apply those words to the problematic lessons themselves. Indeed, it's impossible to implement balance in the ESMC lessons without removing the CES foundation and its narrow ideological lens, which frame the entire curriculum. 

For example, one tenet of CES is that white skinned people are always defined as oppressors and therefore can’t be part of the solution to racism and discrimination. One of the key authors cited in the curriculum, Paulo Freire, whose Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a seminal CES work, writes in his book, "The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves. Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both."

A consequence of the CES framing is that, rather than addressing racism constructively, an ideological litmus test is applied, resulting in one-dimensional misrepresentation of ethnic groups and their role models. Seminal leaders and peaceful agents of change, such as Martin Luther King and John Lewis, do not warrant a mention in the list of 154 Important Historical Figures Among People of Color included in Draft 3 – a list that includes countless violent and/or neo-Marxist revolutionaries.  

Dr. Clarence B. Jones, speechwriter and adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and founding Director of the Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco, shared “great concern for the perversion of history that is being perpetrated by the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC).”

Although various ethnic groups have been added to the ESMC, the approach of how groups and their leaders are portrayed has not changed throughout the three iterations of the draft. The ESMC is a roadmap for teachers. Regardless of specific wording changes, that roadmap is currently the divisive, politicized CES paradigm. 

For example, the ESMC’s Guiding Principles require lessons to “critique empire-building in history and its relationship to white supremacy, racism and other forms of power and oppression.” This ideology is based on critical race theory and post-colonial theory, which pits students against each other based on skin color or ideology, framing ideas, individuals, and groups of people in all-or-nothing terms. 

In contrast, Constructive Ethnic Studies curricula (such as that of the Los Angeles Unified School District) offer positive alternatives, confronting bigotry and racism by building bridges of understanding and empathy. 

We know that many of you also share concerns regarding the anti-Zionist and antisemitic undertones of the curriculum. Draft 3 adds the positive step of including Jewish Americans in an optional lesson, but with each new draft, the antisemitic worldview of CES has found its way in through other avenues. For example, the newest draft includes numerous antisemitic role models, as well as a resource with the following 1929 description of Zionist advocacy: “the Jews have filled the air with their cries and lamentations in an effort to raise funds and American Jews, as is well known, are the richest in the world.” Such details will continue to emerge organically from a curriculum based on CES – a discipline that is inherently tied to anti-Israel advocacy. 

Based on the principles and leadership of CES, whether or not the words and specifics are caught and pulled from the ESMC, the road map that is based on CES leads directly to Israel demonization in the classroom. The CES framework itself must be removed from the ESMC.

Please watch for our action alert with a letter to forward to California officials. Thank you for your invaluable support!

Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies

A diverse grassroots coalition working to remove political agendas from Ethnic Studies, enabling curricula that inspire mutual respect, fight racism, and foster balanced analysis.