Palo Alto High School is currently developing an Ethnic Studies course to educate about and uplift minority ethnic groups.
The course will be a graduation requirement for the class of 2029. The Paly curriculum is currently being worked on by the Social Studies team and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2025.
“This committee [of PAUSD teachers and administration] got together four times, five times to start planning the outline of the course,” Social Studies Instructional Lead Mary Sano said. “But as far as the nitty gritty curriculum, that part is not yet in place.”
Students will have the option to take the course outside of school to fulfill the graduation requirement.
According to Chapter 3 of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum issued by the California Department of Education in 2023, the goal is to introduce high school students to a subject that they would not otherwise learn until college.
The mandate comes from a 2021 bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom requiring California schools to make Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement by the 2025-26 school year.
The material taught within classes, however, will be left up to schools.
I think it’s so cool that we have the opportunity to … learn about our cultures because it just broadens people’s perspectives.”
— Rebecca Fakatou, president of Palo Alto High School's Polynesian Club
Rebecca Fakatou, president of Paly’s Polynesian Club, said she is excited for the new curriculum, and believes that the mandatory one semester course will be beneficial in expanding people’s views.
“I think it [Ethnic Studies] could definitely benefit underrepresented minorities because a lot of people don’t know about what Polynesians are,” Fakatou said. “I think it’s so cool that we have the opportunity to … learn about our cultures because it just broadens people’s perspectives.”