All Palo Alto High School junior Tanuj Chopra remembers learning about his country, India, in his "Contemporary World" class was that everyone has arranged marriages, which isn't even true.
He and other students--many of whom are part of the school's Multicultural Task Force, Black Student Union or the campus Latino club--felt that in most classes, short shrift is given to the history and culture of Africa, Asia and South America, and most of the emphasis was on Western Europe.
"All we were learning was European history, white Anglo-Saxon history. It was a joke," Chopra said. "There was no real effort to include more diverse curriculum."
But that is beginning to change. Starting next fall, Paly will offer a course called "Ethnic Studies," much of it developed by students. As far as local educators are aware, classes like this have not been offered in the district in more than a decade, said Student Activities Director Virginia Bakken. "(It's) this huge momentum of kids. And we're not talking just minority kids."
"I very much wanted them (the students) to be involved in the basic planning of the course," said Principal Sandra Pearson, who has had students coming to her asking about such a course for several years. But it wasn't until this past January, Martin Luther King Day, that more than 70 students came to an open forum and made it clear that it was something they wanted, and wanted now.
"It's not a white America. We deserve to learn about our history. It's sort of taught ethnocentrically," said junior Andy Cho, who has also been involved in planning the course.
The course will be five units and will be a general education course that will apply toward graduation. In the next few weeks, students and staff will meet to come up with a curriculum for the semester-long class.
"Kids are certainly very aware of the society in which they're growing up," Pearson said. "They're more assertive. They will speak up for what they believe in."
The general topics of the class will be the history and culture of ethnic groups in the United States. It also will look at historical events through multiple ethnic and social perspectives and address contemporary problems dealing with diversity.
A pilot independent student course will be conducted this semester under the direction of two teachers, and then the class will be offered in the course catalog for next fall.
--Elizabeth Darling
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