DeluxAuto
AntiSocial Extrovert
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2010
- Posts
- 20,330
Illinois becomes first state to require teaching Asian American history in schools
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-...ching-asian-american-history-schools-n1273774
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-...ching-asian-american-history-schools-n1273774
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill Friday that requires elementary and high schools to teach a unit of Asian American history beginning in the 2022-23 school year. The historic legislation, which passed after an aggressive campaign led in part by the nonprofit group Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.
Sociology professor Natasha Warikoo, a scholar of racial and ethnic inequality in education at Tufts University, said that the legislation is no doubt a win but that it is likely to be up to the educators and the community to determine how heavily schools will emphasize the teachings.
"A lot of the legislation around these kinds of curricular decisions are often symbolic. They are signals by legislators of priorities and where they stand and about what's important to the state," Warikoo said. "What really happens on the ground is going to vary tremendously," depending on "local politics, depending on the staff and the feelings of capacity on who the student body is."
The legislation mandates that schools teach "the contributions of Asian American communities to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the United States" in addition to Asian American civil rights advancements, among other aspects of history. While it says the state superintendent of education may provide materials that can be used as guidelines for the curriculum, the law allows each school board to determine the minimum amount of time required to qualify as a unit of instruction.
Warikoo said that schools often aim to ensure that material is taught to a specific standard by including questions about the topics in standardized testing but that the tactic doesn't necessarily account for the depth of instruction.