In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring California public high school students to complete one semester of an Ethnic Studies course to graduate. The new bill requires that California public high schools offer an Ethnic Studies course beginning in the 2025-26 school year, but for TUHSD students, the course will become a graduation requirement in the 2024-25 school year.
At Archie Williams, the Ethnic Studies class, under the title “Community and Consciousness,” is in a trial period this spring semester. Small Learning Communities (SLC) Runway and Achievers pilot the course, taught by Raquel Nelson and Kathleen Mccormick, in place of World Cultures and Geography. The soft launch allows students to experience the new class before it becomes a permanent underclassmen course and familiarizes teachers with the course syllabus.
Sophomore June Ritter, who currently takes Nelson’s pilot course in Runway, supports the new change in courses, due to Marin County’s history of segregation. According to the Census Bureau, Marin County lacks diversity, with 69.7 percent of the population being White (non-Hispanic). With this lack of racial diversity, Community and Consciousness focuses on educating students on historically misrepresented ethnicities.
“[Marin County] feels like an unintentionally segregated community. But, the more you learn about it and the more you learn that it was intentional, it brings it to a new light, and you understand why,” June said.
Community and Consciousness hones in on marginalized peoples’ histories, struggles, cultures, and contributions to American society. The curriculum covers four main ethnicities: Latino/Chicano, Indigenous, Black or African American, and Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
“[The class has] been putting a big emphasis on bias in our community, and learning about the area and why it’s so segregated,” June said.
Current Archie Williams juniors and seniors will not take this newly required course, as it specifically fits into underclassmen student schedules. Archie Williams junior Nolan Marsh feels disappointed to have missed out on the opportunity to take Community and Consciousness.
“[Community and Consciousness] would have been really interesting and would have really developed my ability to understand different ethnic backgrounds, which I think is really important. It is really a shame it wasn’t offered for our class,” Nolan said.
Nelson takes part in the TUHSD course development team along with representatives from Tamalpais High School, Redwood High School, and San Andreas High School. The group worked for the past two years to develop the curriculum for Community and Consciousness.
Unit One of Community and Consciousness serves as an introductory chapter to explain the context of Ethnic Studies, and why the course exists. Unit Two educates on the kinds of historical U.S. laws that created the current communities at national and local levels. Unit Three celebrates groups who faced systems of oppression underneath cultural structures, and how they thrived despite them.
“We start off looking at our particular Bay Area community so that [students] can understand how incredibly diverse it is, and the richness of the people here for decades and decades and what has produced what we get to enjoy here today,” Nelson said.
The national nonprofit organization, Facing History and Ourselves, focuses on providing professional development for teachers on how to educate their students on topics such as racism, prejudice, and antisemitism. Nelson believes that the organization has thoroughly prepared TUHSD teachers for the new course transition.
“[Facing History and Ourselves] works really, really hard to make sure that teachers are very well prepared… There’s a lot of resources so that people like me, who… have not experienced [racial prejudice] firsthand, have a much more thoughtful way of delivering this kind of content. It’s critical for the teachers to be well prepared,” Nelson said.
Archie Williams underclassmen await the total course change within all SLCs beginning the 2024-25 school year. Next year, Community and Consciousness will replace the former World Cultures and Geography semester for all freshmen and sophomores.
