My name is Emmalyn, and I am a sophomore in high school. Today, I would like to advocate for diversifying the curriculum of public schools to showcase the struggles and successes of cultures that are often overlooked. For many school systems, especially those that are less diverse, many students face unfair prejudice and segregation from their peers due to lack of education and ignorance. No student should be forced to face any form of racism or disrespect from their peers due to a lack of comprehensive education.
This is a real and personal issue to me. I am a Japanese-American student, and during my freshman year, a peer of mine used a commonly known Japanese slur in my presence. Upon confrontation, the student claimed they were unaware of the word’s connotation and had never been educated on it. Unfortunately, this is true, and it is a situation not only I, but many other students have experienced tens if not hundreds of times. Changing the school’s history classes to show not only the experiences of Japanese culture(s), but all cultures that aren’t taught to students in the current curriculum can help us avoid these situations that are far too common.
Racism stems from ignorance. This is a painful yet known fact, and it isn’t only from lack of education. People are more likely to judge and form negative opinions when they are only presented with negatives. In expanding our history classes to be more inclusive, we would honor the immense number of successes that are too often overlooked. With that, it is important to note that we shouldn’t be only educating students. Teachers should be taught how to recognize and de-escalate race-related confrontations and attacks in hopes of working even further toward eliminating racism in schools.
This is an issue that is so important, as it not only helps students feel more comfortable in their schools but also because students of all cultures should be able to be educated on their history. Not all people have the opportunity to learn about their culture or race’s history at home, but that does not mean that they should not be educated on the experiences of their ancestors and loved ones. I have hundreds of years of rich history in my family and culture, and this is only briefly covered within the content of my history classes. On top of that, my peers and I will not be shown this content until my Junior year of high school. And even with so little exhibition, I consider myself lucky. In our current system, many of my peers will never have their history shown in a classroom for the time they are in public schools. But we have the power to change that.
Students should be granted the ability to learn about their identity and culture in a classroom setting. Learning about the struggles of different cultures can be difficult, especially when cultures you identify with are shown to cause harm to other groups of people in history. But that is exactly why we need to make students comfortable being uncomfortable. In the words of American author Mark Mason, “There is no such thing as change without pain, no growth without discomfort”. I stand in front of you all today in hopes of shedding some light on an issue that is not only deeply important to me, but one that detrimentally affects myself and so many of my peers. There is no better time than now to begin to make change and support diverse youth in education, and with the Safe and Supportive Schools Act, we have an opportunity to make that change. Thank you.
