Cal High’s ethnic studies class will become mandatory for freshmen starting in the 2025-26 school year, replacing the semester-long freshman class world geography.
Ethnic Studies is currently offered at Cal as a year-long elective course. The new Ethnic Studies semester-long class is in the process of being added after being highly requested by parents.
The class intends to build empathy within students while educating them about underrepresented groups.
World geography and world history teacher Jackson Collins said during the 2024-25 school year, world geography teachers will integrate the ethnic studies curriculum within its current curriculum.
Since ethnic studies is a new class, many other ethnic studies and world geography teachers in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District are still developing the course curriculum.
“I think it’s time for a change and I think ethnic studies is a great way to do that kind of change,” Collins said. “It’s a really really good initiative.”
The ethnic studies elective class is available to sophomores, juniors and seniors who are interested in learning about key topics in modern-day society.
The elective is taught by Ben Andersen, who teaches global studies as well.
A couple of years ago, the state of California made ethnic studies a mandatory requirement for students graduating starting in 2029, Andersen said.
The ethnic studies semester course will cover similar material as the elective class, but it won’t go into as much depth because of class material containing mature subjects.
Freshmen will still have to take a semester long health class as a graduation requirement.
“I think it exposes students to the stories, the history, the culture of different groups of people that they might not be in contact with,” Andersen said.
The ethnic studies elective covers material similar to Cal’s Social Justice Pathway. The semester-long class is anticipated to be similar as well. With many topics in the ethnic studies class being sensitive, Andersen said he takes a cautious approach when educating students about the various topics.
“I really liked Mr. Andersen’s approach to teaching it,” said senior Nat Lentzen, who previously took the class.
Ethnic studies educates students about different components of society by examining varied sources while including marginalized groups, according to the course description. The class incorporates this material into a variety of projects.
Senior Asmitha Mahendran is currently taking ethnic studies because she was interested in following content relating to the news and wanted to learn more in an academic setting.
“So far I think the class is really good and I’ve learned a lot of new things and done a couple of projects,” Mahendran said.
The ethnic studies class is currently working on a Black History Month poster, which can be found on the first floor of the main building. Students have been learning about different civil rights activists and wanted to incorporate their unit into Black History Month.
Ultimately the class decided to commemorate lesser-known Black artists who contributed to the community and broke down barriers for other Black artists, Andersen said.
Sophomore Michelle Kennedy plans to take ethnic studies next year because she is very interested in social justice. Kennedy has taken the Social Justice Pathway since freshman year and plans to continue with it the next two years.
“The reason I wanted to do social justice in the first place is because I wanted to learn how to help people,” Kennedy said.
Andersen hopes that making ethnic studies mandatory for freshmen will boost sign-ups for his elective class as well.
“It’s really hard to get students who are interested in [this class]. It’s either students I know or students [who] want to learn more about ethnic studies,” Andersen said. “There’s [juniors] who want to take AP’s and seniors who want to take a class off.”
