Public Schools to Teach Asian American History

By Jennie L. Ilustre

 

For the first time, Asian American history will be taught in public schools across the country, starting with Illinois in the 2022-23 school year.

 

Illinois will become the first-ever state to require that Asian American history be taught in public schools, according to Politico, a leading newspaper in the nation’s capital.

Illinois may be the first, but including Asian American ethnic studies in schools has become “a national movement,” Asian American Education Project co-director Stewart Kwoh was quoted as saying in the report. At least ten other states are taking steps to follow suit.

The Illinois State legislature passed the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History Act (TEAACH) in late May “amid growing national concerns about anti-Asian hate and discrimination,” the report noted. The bill mandates including a unit about the Asian American experience in Illinois and the Midwest starting next year.

Illinois state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D) and state Sen. Ram Villivalam (D) co-sponsored the bill. Both are Americans of Asian ancestry.  Gov. J.B. Pritzker, also a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill into law.

Representative Gong-Gershowitz said she has been getting several calls across the country on how to get a similar bill passed in their state legislature.

Among the states that are considering inclusion of some form of ethnic studies in schools are California, Colorado, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey and Washington state, as well as and Washington, D.C., Politico reported.

It added that Illinois was one of the first states in the country to require instruction about the Holocaust. David Goldenberg, the regional director of the Midwest Anti-defamation League, noted the Holocaust education found that students who understand the histories of others “are more empathetic, are more inclusive, and ultimately more sympathetic and willing to engage with people who are different than them.”

A recent CNN article, “Most US schools teach little to nothing about Asian American history and it hurts everyone, experts say,” pointed out that fighting stereotypes is crucial.

Sohyun An, a professor of elementary and early childhood education at Kennesaw State University in Georgia noted: “When the history that is taught in the classroom is representative of all American populations, it teaches students that the US belongs to the many groups – not just the European immigrants represented in most of their textbooks. Understanding other cultures and seeing their importance encourages compassion and fights the stereotype of immigrants as dangerous.”

 

Welcome News

Elvie P. Melegrito, a community volunteer teacher from Kensington, Maryland, was thrilled to learn of this development.

“This is a most welcome news, and it’s about time,” she said in an email. “Ignorance about the history and the contributions of Asian Americans in this country is what’s causing many incidents of hate and violence against our community.”

Melegrito, a retired administrative manager of American University, has been an early education and arts advocate in fostering cultural understanding in America.

She was one of the founders of Eskuwelahang Pilipino (Culture School), which held weekend summer classes at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. from 1987-1991.

She co-founded Tanghalang Pilipino (literally, Theater Pilipino), a cultural arts group, in1986. She serves as its music director. She teaches angklung (a bamboo musical instrument), Tagalog language and folk dances.

Angklung also promoted cultural appreciation in the international stage. On July 11, 2011 a dozen members of Tanghalang Pilipino joined the largest angklung ensemble at the National Mall. More than 5,182 people from different nationalities participated in the event. They broke the world record at the time.

”I hope other states will follow what Illinois is doing. Education is the best antidote to hatred, intolerance and misunderstanding,” Melegrito said.

Another welcome news for education advocate Melegrito? U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng (D, NY) said she is working on an initiative to promote the teaching of Asian Pacific American history in schools across the United States. Meng was co-sponsor of “The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act,” which was signed into law on May 20.

 

‘Asian American History

Is American History’

This year, civil rights activist Stewart Kwoh and his wife Patricia Kwoh formed The Asian American Education Project. They used the learning resources created in partnership with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, Stanford University SPICE and PBS LearningMedia.

Their goal was “to bring the history, contributions, challenges and triumphs of Asian Americans to students across the country.”

The Asian Americans Education Project engages “teachers and students in a K-12 curriculum centered on AAPI history in the U.S.,” according to The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). AAPI is acronym for Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

The Asian American Education Project advocates “for inclusion and curricular standards at the state level nationwide. AAPI History Is American History.”

Kwoh was a 1998 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. The highly prestigious award is also known as the “Genius Grant.” Kwoh was the first Asian American attorney and human rights activist to receive this recognition.

In 2005, Kwoh saw the need to tell the stories of Asian Americans in K-12 learning. He and Russell C. Leong of UCLA were co-editors of a project to tell the stories of how Asian Americans played a role in civil rights in the U.S.

“Untold Civil Rights Stories” was published in 2009. In 2014, Patricia managed a team of teachers to develop 12 lesson plans with the stories from “Untold Civil Rights Stories.”

Stewart and Patricia Kwoh noted that the value of Asian American and other ethnic studies cannot be underestimated. The 2010 to 2014 Stanford University study (with San Francisco State University) found that the attendance for those enrolled in ethnic studies classes ”increased by 21 percentage points, GPA by 1.4 grade points and credits earned by 23.”

It also found significant effects on GPA related to math and science achievement. This linked exposure to ethnic studies with better grades “in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).”

The Asian American Education Project is a non-profit organization. Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC is its fiscal sponsor.