Push for AAPI curriculum growing in US

A push to teach Asian American history at public schools across the United States has gained fresh momentum, with Connecticut becoming the latest state to introduce legislation on the issue.

Under a bill passed this month, public schools in Connecticut are now required to highlight the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to civil rights and the development of the US in their curricula by the 2025-26 academic year.

Supporters say that teaching Asian American history in US schools could address the root causes of anti-Asian discrimination and violence in the country.

"The surge in anti-Asian violence and bigotry right now has its roots in a long history that has been unaddressed and ignored for too long," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said. "Law enforcement cannot address this crisis alone if that history remains invisible."

The bill follows a surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US in early 2020.Tracking platform Stop AAPI Hate has received nearly 11,000 reports of hate incidents against Asian people since its launch in March 2020.

Illinois became the first US state to require that public schools include Asian American studies in their curriculum when it passed legislation in July last year. In January, New Jersey ordered its K-12 schools to teach Asian American history starting in the 2022-23 school year.

Other states including Ohio, California and New York also have been pushing for curricula that is inclusive of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

"These Asian American communities recognize that the best way to fight racism, to get equality and to help their students is to have ethnic studies curriculum," Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and a professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University, told China Daily.

"We believe that educating people, especially our young people, would be helpful in unlearning the racism," he said.

A study in September by the San Francisco Unified School District and the Stanford Graduate School of Education found that enrollment in an ethnic studies course substantially increased high school graduation rates, attendance and the probability of the students matriculating at a university.

Despite a growing demand for Asian American studies, the effort to establish such curricula has been slow in some states.

In Florida, two bills were introduced in October to expand the state's education requirements to include the history of Asian Americans. The House bill stalled and is expected to be reintroduced at the next legislative session in 2023.

Heated debates

Political debates on ethnic studies in Florida have been heated. The state governor has spoken out against critical race theory, an academic framework that centers on the concept that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions and views US history through that lens.

Florida has joined Texas, South Carolina, North Dakota and other states in banning the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.

The push for Asian American studies coincides with a national debate on the teaching of race in public schools. Opponents have argued that teaching critical race theory is divisive.

"They are being misled," said Jeung. "Ignoring racial issues actually allows the issue to deepen racial divisions. We need to tackle it head-on, rather than avoiding it."

Jeung said that, in some places, Asian conservatives both oppose critical race theory and support Asian American studies.

"They think teaching the contributions of Asian Americans is OK but teaching about race is wrong," he said. "But we can't really understand the contributions of Asian Americans without understanding the barriers they faced by race."