Students are demanding that Governor Gavin Newsom sign legislation that requires high school students across California to attend ethnic history and culture classes in order to graduate.
Alvin Lee, 17, whose parents moved to the US from Hunan Province, China, agrees with peers who see gaps in the modern education system.
“Everyone talks about 'white saviors', what a hero Christopher Columbus was, but they don't talk about what Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans have done for America. — says Lee — This is a story we are not taught, and I think it is very destructive. In a sense, this partly erases our identity. »
Lee is a co-founder of GENup, a youth organization committed to transforming US schools by giving students more voice in the learning process. That's why he supports AB 331 — and believes it will help migrant children feel less «powerless.»
As Lorena Gonzalez, a member of the assembly and one of the authors of AB 331, explains, if the bill is approved, ethnic history and culture lessons will become mandatory — however, what exactly they will be will be decided by school districts or directly by educational institutions.
“When 70% of the population [of the state] is Hispanic, and somewhere around 90% of schoolchildren are Hispanics and the children of immigrants from Mexico it makes perfect sense to teach the history of the Hispanic community in schools,” adds Gonzalez.
If AB 331 is adopted, California schools will be required to have a curriculum plan for the new subject prior to the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
