The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies by Christine E. Sleeter

         This article explains how if a student is studying a topic he/she enjoys, they will be engaged in the course and perhaps will attend school regularly.  In this article it relates to ethnic studies in particular.  This article reminds me of how certain classes may influence students' future college major.  I didn't enjoy chemistry so I chose to never be involved with it again! It is hard for students who can't find their passions throughout high school as whole while everyone around them might be focusing on a goal, whether it be to get into a college, trade, or military.  If these aren't in any interest to the student, they might need more exposure to a different topic in order to become engaged in goal making form themselves.  When a school doesn't have the funding, teachers, or for whatever other reason for an abundance of extracurricular activities or specialty courses, these students may not find joy throughout their school day. 

           I am constantly reading and learning with my art teacher lenses on, and try to think of ways to incorporate anything that would improve my students well-being along with learning in an art room.

          I think in my classroom, every Friday or every last Friday of the month we will spin a wheel of countries and I will showcase the culture and art from that place (and to refresh my memory on some geography.)  Even if no one in the classroom may be represented by that country it is good exposure, especially at a young age because..why not?


        There is also a new website I recently learned about and they spotlight 3 artists every month, I thought of incorporating that at the end of class on a certain day of the week!  The website is from Tate Museums in United Kingdom labeled Tate Kids!


        This article specifically had a relationship with the video documentary "Precious Knowledge " as well.  Students who were able to take a class that taught them about their own culture, made them interested in going to school.  Whether it be Spanish, theater, biology technology, or woodshop, it is important that each student has at least one class they are passionate about.  Having that one class might help them graduate, find a passion for something they didn't know they had, or it may help them choose a future career path. 

 Some questions I have would be,: 

How would each school decide what courses they offer in addition to the general education classes? Would it change year by year? 

Is there any easy way to send out a survey every X years to maybe re-think the curriculum? How many teachers can teach more than one subject?

With keeping a budget in mind, how would you think this could work?


I think a lot of our questions throughout this course is directed towards administration but these are something to think about!

Comments

  1. TanyaLFebruary 25, 2026 at 7:44 PM

    I enjoyed reading your blog and your questions at the end. It’s so hard to wrap your head around how to make this work. Can you tailor education specifically to interests? I wonder if maybe for certain classes like history, you can choose from a few options. It would be nice if you can take say American history as well as ethnic studies and pick what culture you want to learn about. I think this would help so much with understanding different backgrounds and maybe have more compassion for one another. Maybe you can do it as a classroom vote in the early years and later on offer it as an elective? You can even offer it as an extension if you wanted to take something extra. I really dont know how budget could play into this. But at the higher grades, you could provide choice when picking your classes.

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