By the 2025-26 school year Ethnic studies will be implemented in all California Schools and by 2030 it will be a requirement to graduate. This makes California the first state to require all students to complete a semester-long course in Ethnic Studies.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said that ethnic studies will help expand educational opportunities in schools and credited it for raising academic achievement. Assemblyman Jose Medina thanked Newsom for signing the bill. “The inclusion of ethnic studies in the high school curriculum is long overdue,” said Medina.

Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond says “ We must understand history if we are finally going to put an end to it.

What is Ethnic Studies?

Ethnic Studies is the study of the histories, experiences, cultures, and issues of racial-ethnic groups in the US. This focuses on the 4 most historically aggrieved groups in the US, Black Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans.

How will the students benefit from this?

There have been many advantages to students taking an ethnic studies course.

This teaches students the depth of social issues and allows them to examine activism and social movements. Students will gather an understanding of what their ancestors contributed to society and their culture. They will learn to think critically about how race, gender, and other social identities impact how different groups live through oppression and discrimination.

Researchers at Stanford University have found that students assigned to an ethnic studies course had longer-term improvements in attendance and graduation rates. 

Secretary of State Shirley Weber, an emerita professor of Africana Studies at San Diego State University said, “At a time when some states are retreating from an accurate discussion of our history, I am proud that California continues to lead in its teaching of ethnic studies. This subject not only has academic benefits, but also has the capacity to build character as students learn how people from their own or different backgrounds face challenges, overcome them, and contribute to American society.”

Because of California implementing this new rule, other states have done similar things for their schools. Connecticut became the first state to require high schools to offer Black and Latino studies, and New Jersey passed a law requiring public schools to offer courses about diversity and inclusion.  

We can only hope that this leads to other States offering history education to their students.