California lawmakers require ethnic studies

(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — The California Legislature last week passed a bill requiring ethnic studies for all California public school students, as Jewish lawmakers and activists continued to disagree on the merits of a model curriculum.

The bill mandating ethnic studies would make the state the first in the nation to require such curricula, which examines race and ethnicity with a focus on people of color.

The liberal California Legislative Jewish Caucus had criticized the original model of a proposed curriculum, introduced in 2019, saying it carried an “anti-Jewis...