Mountain View/Los Altos
High School District
Ethnic Studies Pilot Course
Most people think that an Ethnic Studies course will empower students, counter racism, build bridges of inter-ethnic understanding, and foster an appreciation for the contributions of multiple cultures. However, in some California districts, Ethnic Studies (ES) has been hijacked by political activists and a field called Liberated Ethnic Studies. This has happened in the Mountain View/Los Altos High School District.
A majority of the lessons in the 9th grade MVLA pilot course are based on the Liberated ES model. In one lesson based solely on power and privilege, students have to fill out a chart listing their qualities and define each as “Agent” or “Target” of oppression. Nine lessons attack the education framework, including questions such as “Who has power over you at school?” and statements such as “[school] exerts control and dominance, this is done through force or ideology.” Twelve lessons deride US values with statements such as “Understanding how a popular dominant narrative is problematic - Declaration of independence - life liberty pursuit of happiness.”
Below is a detailed analysis of the MVLA ES pilot course. To make your voice heard, please click here to submit a letter to the MVLA Board of Trustees, asking them to:
Postpone requiring Ethnic Studies for all 9th graders until these concerns are resolved.
Revise the MVLA Ethnic Studies course to one that educates students by building understanding, tackling challenging issues through an analytic lens, exposing them to multiple political perspectives, and encouraging them to develop opinions based on inquiry.
Provide more transparency in the form of access to all curriculum and a yearly community review, including a full two-step community review of the Ethnic Studies course, as mandated by AB101, BEFORE this class is required for all 9th graders.
Offer no further training by anyone associated with Liberated Ethnic Studies movement .
Schedule teacher training on Constructive K-12 Ethnic Studies.
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Liberated ES imposes a narrow political ideology, promotes a militant, anti-Western agenda, polarizes students, and views history and civics entirely through a racial lens. It divides students into powerful oppressors and disempowered victims, categorizing them based on inborn color-based identity, not individual characteristics, and frames ideas and groups in all-or-nothing terms. The approach effectively pits students against each other based on ideology or skin color. Liberated ES also forces students to accept predetermined answers, rather than inviting inquiry.
Liberated ES was the basis for the first draft of California’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (EMSC). In addition to the framework described above, seminal Civil Rights leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King and John Lewis were completely omitted from their list of the 154 role models of color. Additionally, a reading describes such leaders as “passive” and “docile.” The ESMC was the most controversial piece of proposed curriculum in California history, as ethnic and community groups across the state demanded a drastic revision. Governor Gavin Newsom insisted that the initial ESMC draft, based on Liberated ES, should “never see the light of day.” Yet this precise content is ending up in MVLA classrooms.
While many individual lessons, when taken separately, have some appropriate content, the totality of this curriculum reflects the almost exclusive focus on oppression/victimhood/hegemony/resistance/imperialism/colonization. Ethnic Studies should educate students about the struggles and accomplishments of ethnic communities while building empathy and understanding. Below are examples from actual lesson documents that illustrate the opposite. Links to the lessons are in purple and quotes from the lessons are in red.
Student Revolution in Education
This image (pencil on top of a rifle) is the book cover of the seminal pedagogical text for the “liberated” curriculum propagating through US schools. [Textbook: Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed]
Using the work of Marxist philosopher Paolo Freire, students are introduced to power and oppression in education systems. The common thread of how students should combat this is through civil disobedience, instead of using discussion, letter writing, education, and working with lawmakers. Throughout Unit 1 and 3, students are asked to root out power and oppression in their schools/school districts.
“Who created this hegemonic norm of education?”
“Colonization created the hegemonic norms. The people in power created the standards, rules, what is ‘normal.’ Think and challenge hegemonic norms created by colonization.”
Colonization and Hegemony Intro
Hegemony - school “exerts control and dominance, this is done through force or ideology.”
“Who has power over you at school? Brainstorm some people, institutions, etc. that can control what you do in school.”
“What is the power structure at Los Altos High School (LAHS)? Using the LAHS website, look up people in positions of power or influence. What do they do? What are their responsibilities? Whom do they have power or influence over?”
Pedagogy of the Oppressed Reading and Short Scaffolded Reading
“What role does school play in making us act oppressively or want to be oppressors?”
Power and Privilege Definitions and Overview
“Some groups are socially allowed to be more powerful (teachers, police, parents) and their accumulation and uneven distribution of power comes at the expense of other groups.”[Rather than teaching about discrimination and how to confront it, this is declaring that teachers/parents have undue power at the expense of their children.]
This is an assignment in which “(e)ach group is assigned a system of power AND a modern day example of resistance.”
Victim/Oppressor Paradigm
The victim/oppressor focus inherently requires sorting and stereotyping people, glossing over the inherent humanity and individuality in all people. This is the key educational paradigm in Liberated Ethnic Studies, which reduces the world to only victims and oppressors and advocates for a complete dismantling of our government and societal systems.
Intersectionality, Positionality and Social Identity Chart
Lesson based solely on power and privilege. Kids have to fill out a chart listing their qualities and define each as “Agent”or “Target”. [This lessons starts with “Who has power and privilege in today’s society?” The list that follows includes predetermined class examples and categories, such as “classism” (home ownership) and religion.]
Pedagogy of the Oppressed Reading
“the oppressed, at a certain moment of their existential experience, adopt an attitude of “adhesion” or a bond to the oppressor. Under these circumstances they cannot “consider” him sufficiently clearly to objectivize him... But their perception of themselves as oppressed is impaired by their submersion in the reality of oppression.”
“...in terms of a national, widespread effort to reorient Americans’ racist ideas – that has never happened before.” (quoting Kendi) [The Civil Rights Movement is completely disregarded with this statement, illustrating the Liberated opinion that Dr. King was too “passive” and “docile” to be included in Ethnic Studies lessons.]
Worldview and Exploring Worldview, Values, Beliefs
“What is your relationship to power, privilege and oppression in this society? What is your relationship to wealth and resources?”
Vocabulary
Vocabulary terms are interspersed into the course, all focusing on the victim/oppressor paradigm. This leads to terms that are not defined accurately, often negating historical facts and teaching children only the negative aspects of what is usually a complex idea. These are examples of incomplete, misleading or inaccurate definitions included in the curriculum.
“Collective hope is essential to ethnic studies work which is both emotionally and mentally taxing. Constantly learning about oppression may be overwhelming for students.” [This relates directly to the focus of this pilot course. By “constantly learning about oppression,” the curriculum developers acknowledge that the victim/oppressor model is their primary lens.]
“In ethnic studies, we strive to develop critical consciousness, or “conscientization.” This concept was developed by Brazilian educational theorist Paulo Freire. It involves learning about how different systems of oppression were created and maintained. It also focuses on how these systems have affected and continue to affect marginalized communities. This thinking should then be linked with action on the part of individuals in an effort to dismantle the systems of oppression.”
[The following are presented as examples of systems of oppression.]
“Meritocracy is a system of allotting rewards/privileges/responsibilities to those with outstanding performance and/or qualifications; rule by persons chosen not because of birth or wealth, but for their superior talents or intellect.”
“Settler Colonialism: The goal is territorial gains/ domination. This is an important concept for ethnic studies because this is the type of colonialism being practiced in the Americas.”
“Systems of oppression include but are not limited to: White/ Eurocentric/ Western supremacy.”
“Color Blindness: the insistence that race is not relevant, that you ‘don’t see race’ or don’t consider it, but your perspective is limited to how the world works for white people and you assume that same truth for others.” [Rather than a definition, this is an explanation of a specific viewpoint on the concept. Instead of exploring this concept (e.g., “Why did MLK promote color blindness? Today, why are some people against it and others are for it?”), the ideologically-driven definition precludes such inquiry-driven discussion.]
“Race: An ever-evolving social, legal and political construct that has no basis in biological fact.” [According to Miriam Webster, race is “any one of the groups that humans are often divided into based on physical traits regarded as common among people of shared ancestry.”]
“Reverse Racism: It's crucial to maintain the distinction between, on the one hand ‘prejudice’ and ‘discrimination’ on the one hand, and 'racism' on the other, because otherwise white people tend to redefine ‘Discrimination’ as ‘Racism’...” [Rather than a definition, this is an opinion on a controversial term. Instead of exploring this term in the context of inquiry (e.g., “Should the concept of “racism” relate to any groups, or specific ones? Why or why not?”), the ideologically-driven definition precludes such inquiry-driven discussion.]
“Slavery is a new system of power post-Columbus.” [ This is an entirely ahistorical statement, as slavery was “institutionalized by the time the first civilizations emerged (such as Sumer in Mesopotamia, which dates back as far as 3500 BC)”.]
Asserting Opinions as Fact
MVLA's course forces students to assume and justify a number of questionable theories. This is counter to CA HSS guidelines which encourage inquiry about debatable concepts. Teachers should use neutral questions and ask students to evaluate pro and con arguments. Instead this class assumes teachers, parents and police are problematic, as are capitalism, meritocracy, life liberty, and equality. Even worse, students must defend these controversial ideas to get a good grade. That is indoctrination not education. Additionally, because these students have no context from other history courses, this indoctrination becomes their foundational knowledge. The state rejected this sort of material from the ESMC.
Power and Privilege Definitions and Overview
“Oppression” “Power” “Privilege in America”
”Some groups are socially allowed to be more powerful (teachers, police, parents) and their accumulation and uneven distribution of power comes at the expense of other groups.”
“Ableism has deep roots in capitalism in determining whose lives are valued based on the forms of labor they are able to contribute or produce.” [This definition of ableism negates the historical fact that those with disabilities have been marginalized in society since the beginning of time. It was not created because of capitalism.]
“Capitalist logics center meritocracy, individualism, self-reliance, and competition, and establish hierarchies based on perceived economic productivity.” [Liberated ES considers individuality, meritocracy, and objectivity to be “characteristics of white supremacy culture.” (Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction)]
“Understanding how a popular dominant narrative is problematic
- Columbus
- Gold rush
- Missions
- Thanksgiving
- Founders
- Declaration of independence - life liberty pursuit of happiness” (sic)
Connection to Liberated Ethnic Studies Curriculum
After years of extensive controversy, the State of California adopted an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum that it felt would benefit all California students. The state also passed legislation (AB 101) that clearly states its legislative intent that school curriculum should not include the rejected components from the Model Curriculum’s first draft. In response, proponents of the rejected material launched a group called Liberated Ethnic Studies Consortium (LESMC), explicitly to preserve the rejected, ideologically-driven content. The first federal lawsuit against the LESMC and a school district implementing their curriculum has already been filed in California’s Central District (May 12, 2022).
MVLA has repeatedly said that it does NOT want a Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum. Unfortunately, much of the pilot course incorporates Liberated content. Below are numerous connections between the pilot course curriculum and the the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (LESMC).
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition: Hegemony and Normalization
This is explicitly labeled as an LESMC lesson.
Allyson Cubales, Jorge Pacheco, and Samia Shoman, all authors of the original, rejected ESMC draft, then went on to form the LESMC, explicitly to preserve the rejected content. Multiple lessons in the MVLA pilot course include links to their work, which promotes their ideology.
“To developing critical hope and specific skills to confront racial inequity and oppression and pursuit of liberation” with a link to an ES webinar by Allyson Cubales.
The Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) held an Ethnic Studies Initiative, which was led by Liberated activist Jorge Pacheco. A parent who went to one of these meetings reports that Pacheco said that “teachers needed to be grounded in the correct politics to teach ES” and expressed concern about teaching this kind of Ethnic Studies now that parents are more aware and looking at course content. The slides in this link point to this Ethnic Studies Initiative which says that Ethnic Studies “requires an extremely high level of commitment from teachers”.
2nd grade Ethnic Studies
This is Liberated activist Jorge Pacheco’s 2nd grade Ethnic Studies curriculum. It includes projects such as: the Picket Sign Project, to demand federal recognition of the Muwekma Ohlone and addresses what teachers should do if the student activities turn out “progressively inauthentic.”
Samia Shoman is an educator in San Mateo Unified High School District (SMUHSD). In addition to serving on the LESMC Leadership Team, she served on the initial (dismissed) committee that produced the state-rejected ESMC. Shoman was instrumental in the creation and ongoing experience of their Ethnic Studies classes. The MVLA pilot course has multiple lessons from SMUHSD, including:
Colonization and Hegemony Intro
Hegemony and Colonization
What is Ethnic Studies?
Ethnic Studies Unit 2 Reader
What Now?
MVLA parents, students, alumni, and community members are joining together to tell the MVLA Board of Trustees that this is not the kind of Ethnic Studies education they want for our children. The district should be in accordance with the law, allowing for full transparency and community input before making this class a requirement. Specifically, they are asking:
Postpone requiring Ethnic Studies as a requirement for all 9th graders until these concerns are resolved.
New teacher group to revise the MVLA Ethnic Studies course.
Provide more transparency in the form of access to all curriculum and a yearly community review, including a full two-step community review of the Ethnic Studies course, as mandated by AB101, BEFORE this class is required for all 9th graders.
Offer no further training by anyone associated with Liberated Ethnic Studies movement.
Schedule teacher training on Constructive Ethnic Studies.
To add your voice of support for this effort, please click here.
Direct links to all material received by the MVLA District office can be found here.