Beware of Toxic Curricula:

Liberated/Politicized Ethnic Studies

Below are examples of biased, politicized content, currently being taught in schools.

1. Promotes Specific Ideology Rather Than Ethnic Groups, And Dogma Rather Than Inquiry

Forcing An Ideology On Students; Presenting Opinions As Facts

  • The Liberated brand of Ethnic Studies (ES) “does not feign neutrality.” Instead of critically evaluating material, politicized ES insists that “the dominant narrative found throughout mainstream education and curriculum is biased, presenting a false or selective account of our his/herhxstories and realities.” Students must reject all mainstream facts and history, not evaluate them. (Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum)

  • “Teachers need to be grounded in the correct politics to teach Ethnic Studies.” – Jorge Pacheco, co-founder of Liberated ES (2020 Santa Clara County ES teacher training) 

  • Students are taught the U.S. needs “alternative economic systems” to capitalism. Capitalism is explained only through the lens of “Marx Economic Theory.”(Online Resource Library, San Francisco Unified: Compilation for HS Social Studies)

  • "Symbols of dominant American culture include the U.S. flag, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of  Liberty, … the White House, the national anthem, and the bald eagle. For the most part, these symbols highlight… men, White people, wealthy people, etc." (San Mateo Union)

  • 3rd graders learn that “schools are funneling certain students into the prison system” and that testing “feeds the school-to-prison pipeline” (New Haven Elementary Ethnic Studies Summer Program)

Slides go on to teach elementary school students that police are racist and that defunding the police will resolve racism and police brutality.  (Ibid.)

Promoting A Specific Ideology Rather Than Teaching About Ethnic Groups’ Histories, Contributions, And Accomplishments

  • In San Francisco Unified, only three out of 83 slides in the Ethnic Studies framework mention ethnic groups, all in the context of victimhood. On the other hand, the word “hegemony” appears 88 times.

  • Of the hundreds of slides and pages in the Hillsdale High School Ethnic Studies curriculum, only ONE worksheet refers to the contributions/accomplishments of any ethnic groups - though even that one worksheet is in  the context of “resistance.” The rest of the content is focused on oppression, colonization, resistance, and hegemony.

  • In the LESMC’s Asian American unit, Asian Americans are only described in the context of political activists. Prominent Asian American scientists, musicians, doctors, or tech entrepreneurs are omitted from all lessons.

2. Divides The World Into Us vs. Them, Victims vs. Oppressors, And Encourages Students To Identify As Victims.

Sorting Students Into Stereotyped Boxes, Making People Representative Of Their Groups Rather Than Individuals

  • Students are instructed to fill out a “Social Identity Chart” listing their Gender, Sexual Orientation, Emotional Developmental Ability, Race, Religion, and Socioeconomic status, and to define themselves as an "Agent" or "Target” of oppression. (Mountain View Los Altos Union)

  • Students report that, since no one wants to be an agent of oppression, they strive to find as many ways as possible to qualify as a victim.  (Similar charts can be found in  San Jose Unified, Dublin Unified, Sequoia Union, and New Haven Unified)

  • Students are required to list all possible identities and rank them in order of oppression level. (San Francisco Unified)

  • Students are required to write a “personal narrative…. that reflect[s] on the oppression-liberation framework in [their] own life.” Students then write about a personal experience that connects them to “being in a dominant group or a marginalized group.” (Dublin Unified)

Teaching Students That They Are Being Oppressed By A Set Of “Settler Colonist” Systems, Inherent In All Aspects Of Life, And That The Only Solution Is Revolution

  • “Decolonization is the ending of colonialism and the liberation of the colonized. This requires the dismantling of the colonial government and its entire social system upon which control & exploitation are based. Decolonization, then, is a revolutionary struggle aimed at transforming the entire social system…” (San Francisco Unified)

3. Liberated ES Elevates Violent Role Models, Ignores Non-violent Leaders Like Martin Luther King, Jr

  • Liberated ES highlights militant leaders, glossing over their violent behavior. A list of 154 role models of color highlighted such figures as Oscar López Rivera (responsible for 130 bomb attacks in US cities), Lolita Lebrón (led attack on the US Congress), Assata Shakur, and Mumia Abu-Jamal (each convicted of 1st degree murder).

  • Omitted from this list were MLK, John Lewis, Thurgood Marshall. A reading describes Civil Rights Movement leaders as “passive” and “docile”. (https://www.calethstudies.org/militant-role-models)

  • Explaining the actions of John Brown, an abolitionist, who “beheaded male enslavers” and “hacked their bodies into pieces,” Liberated lessons teach that he "believed violence in a righteous cause was a light to purification.” That is, the ends justify the means, and that violence is a valid form of resistance. (Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Chapter 6, John Brown)

  • Students study lyrics such as “Malcolm, Garvey, Huey.” [Salinas Union High School District]

“I study Malcolm Garvey Huey, Malcolm Garvey Huey
Monster Kody with a UZI…
I’m a goon with the machete, especially if it’s deadly
Got the Santos for the Xe to protect me, so respect me…
Bang bang, pig shooting, we should blame Rudy Julie…
Police cannot stand me packing y’all like a manny
Call me Little Bobby Hutton, cause I’m first to push the button
Rappers don’t be saying nothing to the system, we say fuck ‘em”

[Monster Kody was a brutally violent Los Angeles gang member; Santos is a violent gang overseen by the Mexican Mafia; Bobby Hutton, Treasurer of the Black Panther Party, ambushed Oakland police, wounding two officers.]

4. Teaches That All Power Systems, And Those Who Hold Power In The US, Are Inherently Oppressive And Racist

  • Students are taught that oppression comes from all aspects of life. For example, powerful oppressors include “Government, School, Media, and Religion.”(New Haven School District) They further look to see who in their household has power and oppression over them (New Haven Unified)

  • Students learn that school “exerts control and dominance, this is done through force or ideology.” Then they fill out a form to answer “Who has power over you at school? Brainstorm some people, institutions, etc. that can control what you do in school.” (Mountain View Los Altos Union)

  • “It is critical for our students that they see the results (many incredibly harmful to our humanity) as predictable outcomes of various systems, rather than consequences of “bad” individual decisions.” (San Francisco Unified)