Recently, a young man on a student visa from Spain asked me “Why do you have Black History Month here? Why isn’t that just covered as part of American History?” Well, because race is institutionalized in the U.S. and one way to address it is through education. But, are we doing that?
His question reminded me of what I was told by Curtis Acosta, a Mexican American Ethnic Studies teacher in a Tucson high school, whom I video interviewed on my road trip. Curtis was successful in closing the achievement gap in a Tucson high school by integrating Mexican American study into history, literature and art courses. “Outcomes went through the roof. Drop-out rates dramatically decreased, graduation rates increased as did academic performance–even Science and Math, which was not part of the experiment.” Curtis was adamant that it was the fact that Mexican American culture, contributions and influences were incorporated into regular classes that made the difference.
An Effort is Being Made
There has been an increase in effort to include African American studies in high schools. The National Education Association offers to help teachers integrate “Black History Month into your classroom, we offer a selection of lesson plans that cover a variety subjects and that can be adapted to fit multiple grade levels.” Note, though, it’s only for Black History Month. Berkeley High School in California has an African American Studies Department, the only one of its kind in the United States. The State of Florida’s Task Force on African American History advocated for Florida’s school districts and teacher education training centers to implement the teaching of the history of African peoples and the contributions of African Americans to society. I was also able to find African American high school history courses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC. and Tennessee. My guess is that I’d find similar results for other cultural groups as well. Pretty slim pickens, indeed, although I admit to only cursory research on Google. The African American courses I did find also were offered separately from regular classes.
Possible Results
I cannot help but wonder “what if?” What if major American cultural groups like Asian Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and Latinos were studied as part of the core curricula in our schools? Here is what might happen—self-esteem and outcomes would go up in those cultural groups as it did in Tucson; the “Other” would become known and fear of difference would decrease; acceptance would increase; and school festivals would become a cacophony of colorful cultural arts, foods and customs. Yes, yes, yes!!
No Naysayers, Please!
Please don’t tell me that such integration is an impractical idea. I trust in the creativity of smart thinking and good hearted educators to address the eye-popping omission of our splendid national diversity in public education. Let us reaffirm the fact that civilization in the United States is not the result of the work and energy of one people; it is the result of the contributions of all our people.