California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 101 into law in 2021, which made taking an ethnic studies course a graduation requirement in all California public high schools. The class studies the history and culture of racial minorities within America. This requirement, which would begin with the class of 2030, would only be implemented once state funding was supplied. Excluding a one-time grant that was provided for course creation during the 2021-2022 academic year, this funding was never provided. For the 2023-2024 academic year, the Ethnic Studies and Health course was offered to all freshmen in FUHSD. However, only MVHS and Lynbrook High School had sufficient enrollment for the course to be run.
After two years of piloting, Associate Superintendent of FUHSD Teaching and Learning Trudy Gross notes how the reception to the pilot was largely positive by both students and teachers. However, there was not enough interest to run the class for the 2025-2026 academic year. According to Gross, due to this lack of enrollment, the district is planning to shift the Health and Ethnic Studies course from ninth to 12th grade, citing the reason to be that upperclassmen tend to have more open schedules. As a result, the curriculum is currently undergoing revision in the district to better fit upperclassmen.
Sophomore Karen Zhang, who took the course in her freshman year, adds that this shift could be beneficial as upperclassmen have more historical context necessary to understand Ethnic Studies. However, she still feels that Ethnic Studies is a very important class for freshmen.
“As ninth graders, we don’t have history, so the Ethnic Studies course was like a replacement for it,” Zhang said. “In one of the units, we did a project where everybody shared their perspectives on different events happening. We had a very diverse class, so it helped me understand other people’s perspectives.”
According to Gross, the state did not provide a strong model curriculum, so the district developed its own curriculum that must now be adjusted to fit the new target grade level. However, FUHSD still abides by the core frameworks set by the state, including covering topics like race, intersectionality and identity. Gross says that the district has been working towards diversifying each school’s curriculum depending on the school’s racial and ethnic background.
“We have a wide variety of individuals with racial and ethnic backgrounds in our schools,” Gross said. “We’re trying to reflect the community of students who are in the room. That helps us from bringing in a curriculum that could be seen as biased. By having the curriculum be more conceptual and then guided by the students that are in the room and having materials that reflect them, that’s the way our teachers can ensure a representative and safe environment.”
The Ethnic Studies course has faced backlash throughout the state, most critically with accusations of antisemitism. Within FUHSD, Gross adds that the district has similarly experienced families being concerned about the course. She mentions that teachers have worked together to include a variety of coverage concerning race and ethnicity to avoid having any bias.
English teacher Derek Lu, who received a Bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies, strives to incorporate parts of his education into his literature classes by encouraging his students to consider underlying power imbalances and how gender, race and sexuality shape texts. According to Lu, addressing these critiques would be very complicated, as they stem from inherent ideological differences in how people perceive the course.
“I believe that it’s not wrong to call things as they are,” Lu said. “A lot of fundamental truths that we used to hold sacred have been weaponized and distorted by the Trump administration and by MAGA. That was the whole impetus around removing books that talk about privilege, because it makes white people feel bad for their ancestors owning slaves. But it still doesn’t change the fact that this is a country based on colonization and slavery. So, similarly, it doesn’t change the fact that Israel wasn’t founded until 1947. I don’t know how we can change facts to be something that they’re not.”
Lu says a common misconception that people have about ethnic studies is the idea that speaking about privilege undermines hard work and meritocracy. In his opinion, in a place like Cupertino, an Ethnic Studies course is important for students to deconstruct and understand their privilege.
“A lot of our kids here are very sheltered, and they don’t fundamentally understand what it means to be a minority,” Lu said. “Growing up in Cupertino is such a double-edged sword. It’s great that a lot of kids here don’t experience racism, but it’s also a curse, because they grow up thinking that they’re in charge. If you go anywhere else, you’re not going to be surrounded by people who look and have the same cultural background as you. That shapes your sense of identity and sense of status in society. If we don’t get Ethnic Studies on the books, nothing’s going to change. The curriculum is not perfect, and it’s not going to please everyone, but a curriculum has never satisfied all the parents and all the students of the community.”
