California Schools Go Woke, but Is It Something More?

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

A week ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California vetoed a bill that would require a divisive “ethnic studies” curriculum in schools. From vicious anti-Israel teachings to blatantly anti-American ideology, everything about the proposal, written by the California Board of the Education, was objectionable.

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For the moment, Newsom had seemingly done something worthwhile and…sane.

The curriculum recommends teaching students “the four ‘I’s of oppression” and academic concepts like “intersectionality,” “internalized oppression” and “transformative resistance.” Instead of a dynamic, imperfect, pluralistic republic with common ideals, students would be taught to see their country as an organized conspiracy against victim groups.

Unfortunately, Newsom’s bout of sanity didn’t last very long.

Today, the governor signed into law A.B. 101, another bill requiring “ethnic studies” that may be slightly watered down, but appears to still be a gateway to something far more sinister. Here’s a brief description of some of the lessons that will be required.

According to Cal Matters, specific lessons provided in a sample of the curriculum include, “Migration Stories and Oral History,” “#BlackLivesMatter and Social Change,” “Afrofuturism: Reimagining Black Futures and Science Fiction,” “US Undocumented Immigrants from Mexico and Beyond,” “The Immigration Experience of Lao Americans” and “This is Indian Land: The Purpose, Politics, and Practice of Land Acknowledgment.”

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Does any of that sound like actual ethnic studies, or does it sound much more like modern political propaganda? Migration stories about illegal immigrants? Promoting Black Lives Matter? Claims about land ownership in regards to Native Americans? All of those “lessons” hit the right woke chords for the left, and that’s not a coincidence.

Clearly, the purpose of all of this, in my opinion, is not to teach children about the ethnic histories of different groups but to shove a post-modern worldview down their throats. Was there any evidence that California children lacked a basic understanding of various ethnicities prior to graduation? Of course not, but the point of the bill in question isn’t to teach about ethnicities. Rather, it’s to promote a skewed viewpoint in the name of pushing left-wing politics. The indoctrination is the point, as evidenced by the fact that this curriculum requires three semesters of classes.

But more importantly, does anyone actually believe this latest bill truly moderates on the content of the previous bill (A.B. 331), which openly promoted teaching about “oppressors” and Marxism? This is still California we are talking about, and the first bill passed the senate there by a 33-4 vote before Newsom vetoed it. In other words, it’s hardly conspiratorial to suspect that A.B. 101 is meant to usher in and allow the same perverse teachings under the guise of ethnic studies. Liberals do not give up that easily, and I highly doubt they did so here.

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So is A.B. 101 an open door for the full-blown teaching of Critical Race Theory and its derivatives? I can’t say for sure, but if I were placing a bet, I’d bet on it being so. You have to take into account who we are dealing with here. California’s Board of Education is rabidly woke and left-wing. There’s just no way, in my opinion, that they waved the white flag with this latest draft. Check back next year because I bet there will end up being a lot more to this story.

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