Don’t create Ethnic Studies review panel

by David Safier

Some supporters of Ethnic Studies have recommended a review panel to examine the program's materials and, I suppose, its general curriculum.

Bad idea.

Unlike some people who are questioning the motives of people like school board member Mark Stegeman who support the review panel, I simply question their tactics. They're genuinely trying to protect Ethnic Studies from HB 2281, but their strategy plays into the hands of the program's detractors.

Ethnic Studies is a program with a proven track record of improving students' attendance, achievement on test scores and performance in college. Why do people want to get rid of a program that is proven successful? Do they hate students — especially Hispanic students — and want them to fail?

That's the point that should be made, over and over and over.

A review panel can't prove the negative. It can't prove Ethnic Studies doesn't "teach hatred and sedition." It's the anti-Ethnic Studies people who have to prove it does.

Any findings reached by a review panel would just be used as fodder by the haters. If the panel finds absolutely nothing that "teaches hatred and sedition," the anti-Ethnic Studies crowd will attack the members of the panel individually and as a group as a bunch of U.S. hating lefties. If the panel finds a few areas which should be changed because they could be interpreted as "teaching hatred and sedition," the haters will take those few areas as proof the program should be abolished.

The panel is a lose-lose proposition for people who support Ethnic Studies. It's typical of our side, to give credence to right wing rabble rousers by making concessions. Instead, the program should be defended by citing its success at doing what no other program in the state has done with a similar population — make them more involved and more successful in school.