District Pushes to Embrace Diversity in Curriculum
New ethnic studies class planned to be offered to freshmen in San José Unified starting next year
By Joelle Gendzel
New ethnic studies class planned to be offered to freshmen in San José Unified starting next year
By Joelle Gendzel
Hosting San José Unified School District’s most diverse student population, Pioneer places a special emphasis on showing support for inclusion, acceptance and understanding of all the different cultural backgrounds represented in the school’s student body. Recognizing this trend, SJUSD has begun a district-wide push to expand this emphasis on cultural diversity, with the goal of spreading its teachings into the classroom.
By next school year, SJUSD aims to offer an ethnic studies class to freshmen at all high schools within the district. At Pioneer, this would replace the world cultures class currently taught by Margaret Cassidy. While currently not official, California state legislature plans to add ethnic studies as a required course to graduate from high school.
The ethnic studies class will be designed to help students of all different backgrounds feel represented at school. Adding this new course will help the district and the school better serve all groups of students and bring more inclusivity to the classroom. Assistant Principal of Instruction Brendan Simon was in full support of this idea. He feels the class will help better educate all students on the importance of their cultural experiences in history and today’s society.
“I think that the class is going to be a really strong platform to try and educate our students on what they or their ancestors have experienced,” said Simon. “Not everyone gets equally represented in your history textbooks, so this is a way to balance the playing field and educate everybody.”
Currently, it is still up in the air as to who will teach the class. Current Latino Literature teacher Kristen Borup has a background in ethnic studies and would likely be considered as a candidate to teach the class on the contingency that she obtains a credential in social science.
“I think that ethnic studies will allow them those opportunities to get a lot of their questions answered but also to have their cultures and their communities represented that are not in the mainstream history classes and other classes and to find value in that,” said Borup. “I think that while we may not explicitly say that we don’t value that, I think it’s an implicit thing.”
As there is a possibility that ethnic studies becomes a mandatory class instead of an elective, Betty Peterson, 10, feels that requiring this class is the best way to teach the importance of diversity to all students of the younger generation. The ethnic studies class will aim to bring these important lessons into the classroom.
“I think that an ethnic studies class for the school community would help students understand one another a bit better and create a lesson and social division within the students,” said Peterson. “Becoming a requirement for graduation because the ideas and acceptance this class could teach are essential to giving the world healthy and open minded individuals.”
By next school year, SJUSD aims to offer an ethnic studies class to freshmen at all high schools within the district. At Pioneer, this would replace the world cultures class currently taught by Margaret Cassidy. While currently not official, California state legislature plans to add ethnic studies as a required course to graduate from high school.
The ethnic studies class will be designed to help students of all different backgrounds feel represented at school. Adding this new course will help the district and the school better serve all groups of students and bring more inclusivity to the classroom. Assistant Principal of Instruction Brendan Simon was in full support of this idea. He feels the class will help better educate all students on the importance of their cultural experiences in history and today’s society.
“I think that the class is going to be a really strong platform to try and educate our students on what they or their ancestors have experienced,” said Simon. “Not everyone gets equally represented in your history textbooks, so this is a way to balance the playing field and educate everybody.”
Currently, it is still up in the air as to who will teach the class. Current Latino Literature teacher Kristen Borup has a background in ethnic studies and would likely be considered as a candidate to teach the class on the contingency that she obtains a credential in social science.
“I think that ethnic studies will allow them those opportunities to get a lot of their questions answered but also to have their cultures and their communities represented that are not in the mainstream history classes and other classes and to find value in that,” said Borup. “I think that while we may not explicitly say that we don’t value that, I think it’s an implicit thing.”
As there is a possibility that ethnic studies becomes a mandatory class instead of an elective, Betty Peterson, 10, feels that requiring this class is the best way to teach the importance of diversity to all students of the younger generation. The ethnic studies class will aim to bring these important lessons into the classroom.
“I think that an ethnic studies class for the school community would help students understand one another a bit better and create a lesson and social division within the students,” said Peterson. “Becoming a requirement for graduation because the ideas and acceptance this class could teach are essential to giving the world healthy and open minded individuals.”