{"id":5954,"date":"2021-05-03T11:30:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T18:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=5954"},"modified":"2021-05-03T14:38:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T21:38:17","slug":"mark-powell-school-boards-should-formally-acknowledge-jewish-american-history-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=5954","title":{"rendered":"Mark Powell: School Boards Should Formally Acknowledge Jewish American History Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First published by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sdjewishworld.com\/2021\/05\/03\/school-boards-should-formally-acknowledge-jewish-american-history-month\/\">San Diego Jewish World<\/a><\/p>\n<p>California\u2019s newly adopted Ethnic Studies Curriculum has given San Diego County educators the opportunity to combat antisemitism by recognizing and celebrating the many contributions and extensive history of the American Jewish community.\u00a0 Local Boards of Education should formally acknowledge the month of May as Jewish American Heritage Month within our San Diego County schools.<\/p>\n<p>Jewish people started immigrating to San Diego in 1850 and they have an intriguing history. For instance, Jonas Salk, the Jewish-American physician developed the first safe and effective\u00a0vaccine for polio and started the Salk Institute in La Jolla in 1963 a haven for world renowned research. William Kolender served as the chief of the San Diego Police Department for 13 years and was elected Sheriff of San Diego County, and he held the post into the 21st\u00a0century. Sara Jacobs is now serving as the U.S. Representative for California\u2019s 53rd congressional district and her grandfather, Irwin Jacobs is a founder and former chairman of Qualcomm.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most successful ways to combat ethnic stereotypes and racial prejudice is through education. Historically, this has been done by dedicating one month a year to a particular ethnic group highlighting the groups\u2019 contributions to society. For example, Black History Month\u00a0is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and recognizes their contributions and central role in U.S.\u00a0history. It is celebrated in February each year.\u00a0 Hispanic Heritage\u00a0Month takes place\u00a0in the middle of September\u00a0through the middle of October and celebrates the contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.<\/p>\n<p>Four years ago California passed legislation requiring that the state Board of Education adopt an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum for high school students to better represent the diversity within the state. The first draft that was released in 2019 contained antisemitic and anti-Israel content. It was so bad that Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have made ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement, noting that the model curriculum needed revision to ensure that the draft Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum achieves balance, fairness and is inclusive of all communities.\u00a0 In fact, the original draft was so antisemitic that California Jewish lawmakers also called for revisions.\u00a0 They stated that it erased the American Jewish experience, failed to discuss antisemitism, reinforced negative stereotypes about Jews, singled out Israel for criticism and would have most likely institutionalized the teaching of antisemitic stereotypes in our public schools.<\/p>\n<p>A third draft was released in December 2019 and in March, 2021 the California State Board of Education approved the nation\u2019s first statewide ethnic studies curriculum for high schools. Now that California\u2019s newly adopted ethnic studies curriculum has become law, educators have the opportunity to highlight the many cultures that make up San Diego County as part of their instructional curriculum. Through the curriculum teachers will have the ability to discredit some of the many cultural stereotypes that cause hate and prejudice against Jewish Americans, but will they do that?<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to racism, Jews in the United States suffered the largest number of antisemitic incidents last year since the Anti-Defamation League\u00a0began collecting records 40 years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to rising antisemitism which shows that we must remain vigilant against racism and religious persecution. In San Diego County we witnessed the ugly head of antisemitic violence when a gunman attacked the Chabad Synagogue of Poway killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye.<\/p>\n<p>The nearly 900-page Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is meant to teach high school students about the struggles and contributions of historically marginalized peoples which are often untold in U.S. history courses.\u00a0 It is up to our school leaders to make sure teachers take the time to celebrate our multicultural society, especially those ethnic groups that make up only a small percent of the population. As of 2018, there were approximately 7.5 million Jews in the United States. That\u2019s only about 2 percent of the U.S. population, but it\u2019s enough to make the United States home to the largest Jewish community in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Jewish American Heritage Month is an annual recognition and celebration of American Jews\u2019 achievements and their contributions to the United States of America. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors and the San Diego County Board of Education should formally recognize the month of May as Jewish American Heritage Month through proclamation to teach students about Jewish American history and help put an end to antisemitism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First published by San Diego Jewish World California\u2019s newly adopted Ethnic Studies Curriculum has given San Diego County educators the opportunity to combat antisemitism by recognizing and celebrating the many contributions and extensive history of the American Jewish community.\u00a0 Local Boards of Education should formally acknowledge the month of May as Jewish American Heritage Month&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.5 - 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