Ethnic studies course will continue to be an option for freshman English in San Dieguito

The ethnic studies course, while no longer a state graduation requirement, is an opportunity for students to gain cultural understanding and learn about the struggles and contributions to American society of historically marginalized groups.

At the Jan. 22 meeting, the board voted 4-1 in favor with Trustee Phan Anderson opposed. Her preference was that ethnic studies be an elective course rather than integrated into ninth grade English.

Per Assembly Bill 101 which passed in 2021, ethnic studies was supposed to be a graduation requirement for all California students in the class of 2030, those who would be entering high school in fall 2026. In response, San Dieguito started preparing and over a period of six months in 2024 underwent a robust curriculum development process that included surveys and community and board workshops on each of the course’s four units: identity, history and movement, social movements and equity and systems: progress and barriers. At times, the process was controversial as there were a lot of differing opinions about the content.

In early 2025, after Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget did not include any funding for the course, it became no longer a graduation requirement. The district pivoted and opted instead to pilot the course starting this school year, including it in ninth grade English or Honors English.

San Dieguito’s Director of Teaching Learning and Education Brieahna Weatherford said getting to this point has been incredibly challenging, the culmination of two years of work. The ethnic studies pilot is being offered at all four high schools, with about 245 students enrolled and eight teachers teaching the course. San Dieguito Academy has the highest number of participants with three classes and 99 out of about 385 freshmen opting in.

Teacher Ruth Magnusen shared that she believed her pilot class at SDA had a powerful impact on students’ sense of self and feeling of belonging. In the class, they talked about their personal families’ histories and traditions, analyzed and wrote about literature, researched social movements and took field trips to visit the Centro Cultural De La Raza, The Museum of Us and other House of Pacific Relations International Cottages at Balboa Park.

Weatherford said in visiting ethnic studies classrooms she saw students discussing culture, community and personal identity, connecting with poetry and through novels like “Black Boy” and “The House on Mango Street,” about a young Latina growing up in Chicago.

Feedback from students has been positive—students said they had an opportunity to hear from a wide range of voices and perspectives while improving their reading and note-taking skills. Students said they felt the course was a way to promote understanding and possibly prevent microaggressions and the subtle racist and discriminatory jokes heard on campus against marginalized groups. Over the last few years the district has struggled with racist and antisemitic incidents, most recently at SDA.

Student and teacher input continues to shape the course and Weatherford said there is always room for improvement, such as adding additional novels that represent the Asian Pacific Islander and Native American experience, and more professional learning for teachers. One student’s suggestion was to focus an equal amount of time on both history and current world events.

That night the board heard from 21 speakers in support of offering the class, many of them students advocating for a more diverse and inclusive curriculum for their peers.

Dylan Black, a SDA freshman who took the pilot course this year, said the class allowed students to learn more about each other and also become better debaters and thinkers.

“A lot is going on in the world right now, it’s a complicated time,” Dylan said “Regardless of what you may believe about ethnic studies, I hope we can all agree that if diverse voices aren’t being heard in America, they may not be heard in other places either. Let’s use this privilege that we have…People can be less afraid of each other, the world can be more connected. We can make a better place for future generations.”

Mari Kradjian, a junior at Torrey Pines and president of the TPHS Armenian Club, spoke about how she often felt invisible at school and would jump at any chance to talk about her family’s story and Armenian heritage. She believed ethnic studies is one way for every student to feel seen.

“Ethnic studies tells stories that are usually left out of textbooks, stories that  allow for connection to other cultures,” Mari said. “Ethnic students does not tell students what to think, it teaches us how to think. Learning multiple perspectives helps us understand the world and its people…and make way for a foundation for forming ideas and thoughts. That’s not controversial, that’s education.”

With her dissenting vote, Anderson was dismissive about the popularity of the class, noting that by the numbers provided, only 10 to 11% of freshmen were opting to take it: “If it was such a great class, we would see more kids interested in it.”

She believed the course should be an elective and that ninth-grade English should just focus on reading, writing and nothing else. She said the district’s goal should be getting all high schools up to Canyon Crest Academy’s level on Advanced Placement test scores.

In her vote of support, Vice President Rimga Viskanta offered that she sees the value of ethnic studies in developing critical thinkers and expanding course materials to include multiple perspectives.

“I always support a course of study that broadens students’ understanding over one that narrows it,” Viskanta said.