Education Week - March 29, 2023 - 10

The Demand for Asian American History
Is Growing. See Where
Florida is among
states facing
the possibility
of requiring
Asian American
and Pacific
Islander history
in K-12
curriculum
By Ileana Najarro
Momentum for requiring instruction
of Asian American and Pacific
Islander history in K-12 curriculum
nationwide continues to grow-including
in states like Florida where
legislation restricts how topics of race
can be taught in schools.
At least 12 states now are home to
a local chapter of Make Us Visible,
a coalition of community members
looking to pass legislation that requires
instruction of AAPI history as
a preventative measure to the recent
rise in anti-Asian violence across the
country.
Five such bills endorsed by Make Us
Visible state chapters have passed in
Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode
Island within the last year. Illinois also
separately passed legislation requiring
Asian American history be taught in
public schools.
In Florida, where state education
officials recently banned a new Advanced
Placement African American
Studies course, two bipartisan
bills supported by the local Make
Us Visible chapter have been introduced
this year. They would require
instruction on " the history of Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders,
including the immigration, citizenship,
civil rights, identity, and culture
of Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders and the contributions of
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
to American society. "
The bills mark the second attempt
at passing such legislation in the
state, said Mimi Chan, the state director
for Make Us Visible Florida.
Chan is cognizant of the current political
climate in her state-Florida
is one of 18 states that restricts how
teachers can talk about race-but
she's taking things one step at a
time, hoping that members of her
community can better see themselves
reflected in classroom instruction.
" This
is not a political agenda, "
Chan said. " This is very much a
community-based initiative. Seeing
how much the Florida community
wants this is, I think, what's
going to hopefully see this through
to the end. "
Why there's a push for Asian
American history
Make Us Visible was started in January
2021 by two parents and a teacher
in response to the rise in anti-Asian
violence. They saw education as a
long-term preventative measure, according
to its website.
Since then, grassroots efforts to require
the inclusion of AAPI history in
K-12 instruction have sprung up or are
in development in 15 states with local
community members running or trying
to start state chapters. Florida,
Oklahoma, and Virginia are among
the states with either an active chapter
or a chapter incoming where there
is also a law in place restricting how
topics of race can be taught.
Chan, of the Florida chapter, grew
up not learning about Asian American
history or Asian Americans' civic contributions
in Florida schools. Through
her family's deep ties with the local
Asian American community in Central
Florida, she realized this needed
to change, especially given the experiences
her neighbors were sharing.
" In the onset of the pandemic, I had
a lot of my community coming and
reaching out to me, regarding some of
the discrimination they were facing, "
Chan said. " And even situations where
kids were being bullied in school, and
senior citizens had fear for going grocery
shopping, and other instances that
were just very disturbing. "
Even in states where legislation has
passed, putting together a matching
curriculum is complex.
10 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 29, 2023 | www.edweek.org
In Connecticut, where legislation
passed last year, educators are grappling
with a slew of questions in developing
curriculum for all grades,
including how to be inclusive of the
diversity of experiences and identities
of local Asian American and Pacific
Islander residents, and how to
cover history through a critical lens
which involves interrogating systems
of power and understanding how different
groups have been racialized.
Meanwhile, in Texas, educators are
developing a pilot program for a high
school elective course in Asian American
studies so that the course could be
approved by the state board of education.
But this comes after efforts to
fast-track the course's approval last
year came undone.
The course was initially meant to be
approved as part of the state's broader
revision to social studies standards.
Conservative critics of attempts to
culturally diversify the standards
pushed the revision process down the
line, eliminating the option for fast approval
of the Asian American Studies
course, along with a proposed Native
American/Indigenous Studies course.
A fuller picture of history
Texas is also one of the 18 states
with a law restricting how topics of
race can be taught in schools. Yet educators
working on the proposed Asian
American Studies course there are
still pushing for an elective that would
go beyond the goal of simply increasing
the visibility and representation
of Asian Americans in history classes.
Mohit Mehta, the assistant director
for the Center for Asian American
Studies and Ph.D. candidate in curriculum
and instruction at the University
of Texas at Austin, is among
those who see the value in more ethnic
studies courses in Texas.
Ethnic studies courses help all students
" understand the long deep
history of how different groups have
been treated in the United States, and
have fought for their equal rights and
protection, " Mehta said.
Mehta says it's important to recognize
that such a course in any state
owes a debt of gratitude to the path
paved by scholars of African American
Studies. It's partly why those working
on the new course are in regular communication
with those that got African
American Studies and Mexican American
Studies courses approved as electives
in Texas years ago.
" You can't talk about Asian
American studies or Asian American
history without being aware of
how law and policy affected, first
and foremost, Black Americans, "
Mehta said.
Asked whether there were any concerns
about Florida state officials' attacks
on African American studies
bleeding over into the call for Asian
American and Pacific Islander history
requirements, Chan with Make Us Visible
Florida said she's focusing first on
paving the way for legislation to pass.
" We're trying to get this bill passed, "
Chan said. " You just take the small
wins to be able to move forward. "
A rally-goer protests against
hate crimes and violence
against Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders in
Chicago on March 20, 2021.
A rise in anti-Asian violence
in recent years has helped
fuel a campaign to require
that schools teach Asian
American and Pacific
Islander history.
"
We're trying to
get this bill passed.
You just take the
small wins to be
able to move
forward.
MIMI CHAN
State director,
Make Us Visible Florida
Nam Y. Huh/AP
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - March 29, 2023

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