Teens, Adults Confront School District with Anti-Racism Demands and Ethnic Studies Classes
Santa Barbara Unified To Require Ethnic Studies This Fall, Black Lives Matter Teens Speak Up
The push for mandatory ethnic studies courses in high school — a controversial topic in the Santa Barbara Unified School District in recent years — collided head-on with the Black Lives Matter movement Tuesday night following a protest led by student organizers on Sunday, who issued six demands to the district, including mandatory implementation of ethnic studies.
“These days, Instagram is the new textbook, except we’re learning about systemic racism that we haven’t learned in school,” said Roxana Corona, a college student who went through S.B. Unified. “The fact that I learned about this on social media instead of school says a lot about our education system.
“Why is it that all that was ingrained in my head is ‘Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492?’”
