A Golden State Victory for Common Sense

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | June 27, 2025 | Richard Sander

[karpov]

Most readers would agree, I think, that it is desirable to keep politics out of K-12 classrooms. And one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who favors having universities force secondary students to “learn” a particular political agenda. Yet that is what almost transpired in California this past spring. The story of how this came about, and the (at least partial) success of efforts to stop it, is one worth telling.

Courses in “ethnic studies” have become a popular offering at high schools across much of the United States. In some school districts, taking a course in ethnic studies is a graduation requirement. These courses come in a variety of flavors. Some simply explore the topic of ethnicity, teaching students something about the history and development of a range of ethnic groups and introducing them to distinctive cultures. Other courses, sometimes called “inclusive ethnic studies,” deal with many ethnic groups’ contributions and struggles and present a variety of perspectives on topics such as discrimination and racial prejudice.

A third variety, known as “liberated ethnic studies” (LES), have a fairly explicit political edge. They take for granted that “structural racism” is real and pervasive in the United States and other Western countries; that “colonialism” taints all relationships between the West and the developing world; and that a version of Marxist economics—called “racial capitalism” because race is substituted for class as the main axis of exploitation—is essential for understanding market economies.

In California at least, the LES brand of ethnic studies is dominant. A recent review of school-district websites found that, among 125 California school districts that offer an identifiable ethnic-studies course, over four-fifths offered a variant of LES. LES was particularly dominant in the largest school districts, including Los Angeles Unified—the nation’s second-largest K-12 district.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

One of my favorite examples of the Kalifornication of education is the college general education course about logic. With a fantastic night school professor, it made perfect sense.

Later, they dreamed up such courses as:

Logic In Gender Studies

Logic In Afro American Studies

Logic In Chicano Studies

Logic In Women’s Studies
(even though they cannot define what is a woman)

[Repeal The 17th]

“...A Golden State Victory for Common Sense...”
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So where is the victory for common sense?

[BenLurkin]

Close the public schools.

They do far more harm than good.