SOAR (Students Organized for Anti-Racism)

Ethnic Studies/Contemporary Issues

 

SOAR combines curriculum from two district approved courses: Ethnic Studies and Contemporary issues.  Ethnic Studies was signed into California education code in 2016 by governor Jerry Brown as an elective course that all California High Schools must teach by 2020. (There is current legislation in process that might eventually make it a graduation requirement) The course begins with an examination of Critical Race Theory, a theory developed in the 1960s-1980s that examined the role that race has played in the development of the United States of America, and will provide a foundation that we will use to examine specific ethnic groups over the course of the year. Ethnic studies investigate and examines American history from the perspective of people who experienced hardship and suffering because of their ethnicity. It covers the experiences of Native Americans, Latinx, African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other ethnicities often left out of mainstream US History curriculum. Contemporary Issues will allow us to explore how these histories can be seen in modern day America via the news, popular media, and social media. Additionally, Contemporary issues has an open-ended component that will allow us to take action here on campus based on the learning we do inside the classroom. We will combine these two courses within a single course allowing us to bounce back and forth between content and action.

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