California

California-mandated ethnic studies sparks curriculum clash

Published

11 months ago

June 10, 2024

California-mandated ethnic studies sparks curriculum clash

California’s public schools will be required to offer a full-year course in ethnic studies beginning in the 2025-26 school year. And by 2030, students won’t be able to graduate without it.

But school districts, including some in the Bay Area, are caught up in a curriculum crossfire that’s landed some in hot water — and court.

Ethnic studies examines the history of race and ethnicity in the United States, with an emphasis on the experiences of people of color. But as public schools face heightened tensions stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, the clock is ticking for educational leaders to address how to teach the state’s new mandate — especially when it comes to Israel, Palestine and the ongoing conflict.

The state took five years and four drafts to approve an ethnic studies “model curriculum” for schools to follow. But districts are not required to implement it as long as their curriculums don’t reflect or promote bias, discrimination or religious doctrine.

There are two competing visions of ethnic studies at the heart of the conflict: critical or “liberated” ethnic studies — often taught at universities — and “constructive” ethnic studies, which the state’s model now closely resembles.

The key difference between the two courses comes down to politics, said Elina Kaplan, co-founder of the Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies, an advocacy group pushing for schools to implement constructive ethnic studies.

The liberated model “focuses on power structures, repression, imperialism, colonization,” Kaplan said. “Everything else is what we would call constructive ethnic studies. Think of it as the depoliticized version of ethnic studies.”

Elina Kaplan, the co-founder of the Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies, at her home in Foster City, Calif., on Friday, June 7, 2024. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

When the state unveiled the first draft of its curriculum in 2019, the material was largely criticized for being antisemitic, loaded with politically correct jargon and not inclusive enough about the histories of Jewish, Armenian, Sikh and other communities.

“It was very clear that it did not represent all of the communities that needed to be included,” said Marc Levine, a former state Assembly member and the Central Pacific regional director for the Anti-Defamation League. “In fact, it had discriminatory language specifically about Jews and Israel.”

The draft received over 20,000 public comments, most of which objected to the omission of Jewish Americans and antisemitism, while Israeli persecution of Palestinians was highlighted. The 2019 draft also included sample topics focusing on strikes and protests for Palestine and calling for the boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel.

One source material included a song by Ana Tijouz and Shadia Mansour, with the lyric, “for every free political prisoner, an Israeli colony is expanded.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom described the curriculum as “insufficiently balanced and inclusive” and said the draft needed to be substantially amended.

In 2021, he approved a bill that revised the model ethnic studies curriculum and removed content Jewish groups found harmful. Palestine isn’t mentioned once in the finalized 700-page curriculum model or 30 sample lessons, although lessons on the Holocaust, antisemitism and Jewish American identity are included.

The original course was designed by a group of 19 ethnic studies experts who were selected by the California Department of Education. After the state revamped the curriculum, some members of the group joined with other educators and activists to develop and implement their own course, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition.

The group did not respond to The Bay Area News Group’s request for comment, but in a statement on its website said that the ethnic studies model curriculum that the state Board of Education approved in March 2021 “bears so little relation to the original draft” that every member of the advisory council “demanded that their name be removed.”

The coalition complained that the state’s new curriculum “sanitizes” the course by removing or redefining terms like capitalism and revolution, erases all mention of Palestine and fails to depict the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement and the true causes of police brutality.

But the liberated coalition’s model also has been widely criticized as antisemitic.

StandWithUs, an international nonprofit promoting Israel education, said the coalition was trying to “exploit” the state’s new requirement as a “platform for antisemitism, anti-Israel propaganda and other forms of bias.” The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism said the model’s promotion of a specific political view violates the California Constitution and Education Code.

Several California school districts are already facing lawsuits over material some find objectionable.

The Deborah Project, a law firm advocating Jewish civil rights, has sued Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District and Hayward Unified High School District, citing “overtly” antisemitic teaching materials.

The firm has also sued the coalition for pushing antisemitic and anti-Zionest materials in Los Angeles public schools.

Sequoia Union High School District, Morgan Hill Unified School District and Berkeley Unified School District are also facing backlash from community members for their ties to the liberated coalition’s model.

While both course models focus on four areas — Black studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, Chicanx/Latinx studies and Native American studies — Liberated’s material largely excludes the histories of ethnic groups who may be considered White.

The Liberated Coalition explained that its course material does not include European-American ethnic groups, including Jews, because while those groups have faced discrimination, “their experiences differ from the contemporary and historical experiences of radicalized communities in the U.S., especially their experiences with racism and colonialism.”

Liberated also focuses heavily on activism in its student assignments. For one lesson on redlining and U.S. housing discrimination, the course has students write a persuasive letter to county leaders calling for reparations.

The group responded to criticism of its course saying that students are aware of their surroundings — including racism and injustice — from a very young age.

“Ethnic studies doesn’t tell students what to think, but it is a framework for understanding their reality,” the group said.

But co-founder of the Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies, Kaplan, said the model stands to do more harm than good in the long run.

“Ethnic studies is good and it’s healthy and it’s the right thing for our students to be learning,” Kaplan said. “They should just be learning it in the way that the legislators intended, which is in this positive empowering way to learn about each other and to confront racism and discrimination.”

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California

How a missing hiker survived for 3 weeks in the California wilderness

Published

8 hours ago

May 17, 2025

Press Room

How a missing hiker survived for 3 weeks in the California wilderness

Tiffany Slaton, a 28-year-old woman originally from Georgia, was found alive after surviving three weeks lost in the wilderness.

Slaton planned to spend three days in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, but after she fell off a cliff and an avalanche disrupted her path back to the main road, she spent three weeks lost in the mountains instead.

She embarked on her solo trip April 20 and was reported missing by her family April 29 after they hadn’t heard from her for nine days. After three weeks with dwindling food and supplies, Slaton was eventually found safe May 14, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office began a search after Slaton was reported missing, and alerted the public to keep an eye out for any sign of her. Several tips from the community were called in, with confirmed sightings of Slaton on April 20 and April 24.

During a May 16 press conference, Slaton detailed her harrowing experience, sharing, “When I fell off of this cliff, I was unconscious for about two hours and did indeed have to splint one of my legs and pop the other knee back into place.”

Slaton initially had food and supplies, but when her rations ran out, she relied on her own skills to survive, revealing during the press conference that she was “pretty good at foraging.”

She primarily ate leeks and drank snow melt, referring to herself as “a trained permaculturalist.” Slaton said, “That means I’m very good at foraging, but at the end after fighting nature for such a long time, I lost my tent, and I did eventually lose both sleeping bags, so I was outside with nothing but a lighter and a knife.”

Between May 6 and May 10, the search and rescue team conducted a search spanning almost 600 square miles, according to authorities. After going off course, Slaton walked for miles for several days before she came across a remote mountain resort, Vermilion Valley Resort, on May 13.

Slaton called the resort as her saving grace, sharing that without Vermilion Valley Resort, she “would not be here.”

The resort’s owner Christopher Gutierrez told reporters during a May 14 press conference that he purposefully leaves cabins open for emergencies should someone need to seek shelter from the elements. After Slaton arrived at the resort, she was there for approximately eight hours before Gutierrez found her and immediately contacted the sheriff’s office.

During the media conference, which included Slaton’s parents, Bobby and Fredrina Slaton, Gutierrez recalled the moment he saw the 28-year-old, explaining, “She pops out, didn’t say a word, just ran up, and all she wanted was a hug.”

“It was a pretty surreal moment,” he added. “And that’s when I knew. That’s when I realized who this was.”

Other than experiencing dehydration, Slaton was in “good condition” when medics arrived at the scene, the Sheriff’s Office noted. Slaton was subsequently transported to a hospital for further evaluation.

Due to exposure to bright light from the snow-covered terrain in the mountains, authorities said Slaton’s eyes were damaged to the point where she had to wear sunglasses for two days after her rescue.

During the press conference Wednesday, Slaton’s parents expressed their joy over their daughter being found. Bobbly Slaton recalled the first thing his daughter said to him after she had been rescued: “‘Dad, I’m alive, and I’m sorry.’”

“This has to be the third or fourth best day of our lives after our children’s birth,” Bobby Slaton said. “We are extremely excited and happy to hear the news that my daughter is now safe.”

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California

Woman missing for weeks in wilderness found alive in California

Published

1 day ago

May 17, 2025

Press Room

Woman missing for weeks in wilderness found alive in California

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California

7 newbie tips to the L.A. County Fair

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2025

Press Room

I’m not much of a fair guy — I never win at carnival games, I get dizzy as a passenger in a car, and fair food is as overrated as In-N-Out. But last week, I attended the Los Angeles County Fair for the first time ever because why not?

Besides, if Miguel Santana can be a Fairhead, so can I.

He’s one of the most influential people in Southern California: longtime confidante of the late Gloria Molina, former chief administrative officer for Los Angeles and current president of the California Community Foundation. But I think he had the most fun as head of the L.A. County Fair from 2017 to 2020, a stint immortalized by his appearance on the cover of the 2022 book “100 Years of the Los Angeles County Fair” riding a gondola lift alongside the book’s author, legendary Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen.

“Who’s there says a lot about us as Southern California,” Santana said of the L.A. County Fair’s audience as I exited the 10 Freeway toward the Fairplex. “It’s a sense of Americana and proof we can be diverse and American at the same time.”

I asked if this fair was as big as the Orange County Fair. He laughed the way all Angelenos do when presented with a comparison to Orange County.

“It’s enormous. You’re gonna get your 10,000 steps.”

Behold, then, this newbie’s L.A. County Fair tips:

Times columnist Gustavo Arellano at the 2025 L.A. County Fair.

(Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times)

Have a Pomona homie drop you off

Fair parking is an ungodly $22.50, and don’t you dare try to leave your jalopy at nearby Ganesha Park unless you want to spend a couple hundred dollars fishing it out of some random tow truck yard. My Pomona parking hookup was faithful reader Fernando Iniguez — gracias, Fern Iggy! I owe you a Jerez sweatshirt.

Buy your tickets online

$21.50 on the internet. At the gate? $32. Um, yeah. But one big complaint, Fair lords: It took me three attempts to buy my tickets online. Ever heard of Zelle?

Feel the music

“There’s going to be so much music,” Santana told me, and he was right. Between live bands, Spotify playlists, DJs and radio stations, it was like walking through a wholesome Coachella. Bachata smoothly transitioned to Go Country went to KCRW became Taylor Swift switched over to a super-chirpy cover of the O’Jays’ “Love Train” at the Disco Chicken stand. And though Pharell Williams’ “Happy” played at least five times while I visited, the atmosphere was so cheerful that I didn’t have to scream to drown out his ode to optimism.

Hang out at the petting zoo for the best people watching

There’s nothing like seeing suburbanites who probably think meat comes from Erewhon fairies stand with terror in their eyes as bleating sheep and goats swarm them asking for pellets.

Lose yourself in the fair

How much did fairgoers live in the moment? I saw next to no one use their smartphone other than for photos. And I also noticed a middle-age white guy in a MAGA cap standing a few feet away from a Muslim family with nary a negative look at each other. They were too busy staring ahead like the rest of us at an octet of magnificent Clydesdale horses ready to pull a Budweiser wagon.

Head to the coolest section of the fair

I loved all the vegetables and livestock at the Farm & Gardens, enjoyed the trippy art at the Flower & Garden Pavilion and appreciated the juxtaposition of a lowrider show next to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum near the Millard Sheets Art Center. But the best part of the fair was the area labeled “America’s Great Outdoors” — and I say this as someone who thinks camping and hiking are for the (literal) birds! Volunteers sawed logs with kids, taught them how to pan for gold, showed off desert reptiles and even hosted an environmental magic show. Throw in a replica of a Tongva hut and a U.S. Forest Service fire lookout tower and the nearby sound of the RailGiants Train Museum, and this is what Knott’s Berry Farm used to be before it became whatever the hell it is now.

Block off at least three hours to fully enjoy

I had to rush back to Orange County for a columna the day I visited, so I only spent an hour and a half at the fair. I had to skip the tablescape competition, didn’t go through the exhibit halls and was only able to eat at Hot Dog on a Stick because they make the best lemonade on Earth. But it was wonderful to leave the problems of the world mostly at bay for a few hours to enjoy the living, breathing Wikipedia that is a county fair at its finest — and the L.A. County Fair is definitely that.

Huge Snorlax plush toy: Next year, you’re mine.

Today’s top stories

A man and his dog chase a large black bear into the wilderness.

A woman’s grisly death inflames debate over how California manages problem black bears

An autopsy determined that 71-year-old Patrice Miller had probably been killed by a black bear after it broke into her home, marking the first known instance in California history of a fatal bear attack on a human.
The story of Miller’s grisly end have come roaring into the state Capitol this spring.
Wildlife officials estimate there are now 60,000 black bears in California, roughly triple the figure from 1998.

An epic guide to the best motels in California

UC and CSU get some relief in Newsom’s budget plan

Proposed funding cuts for UC and CSU are not as bad as they were in January, under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget.
The proposed cut to UC dropped from $397 million in January to $130 million four months later, representing a 3% year-to-year budget cut.
For CSU, Newsom’s budget cut went from $375 million in January to $144 million, also a 3% budget reduction.

Riverside wants to become ‘the new Detroit’

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must reads

For your downtime

A man enjoys a platter of a half dozen barbecue oysters inside a restaurant.

Going out

Staying in

A question for you: What is your go-to karaoke song?

Alan says: “Your Man by Josh Turner.”
C Price says: “The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell.”

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … your photo of the day

A little boy runs away with a baseball as his mother and sister scramble behind him on a baseball field.

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Robert Gauthier at Dodger Stadium where the 2-year-old son of Dodgers infielder Mookie Betts runs away with the ceremonial first pitch ball.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.