House bill seeks ethnic studies options in social studies

Omar E. Zapata | THE RIDER

House Bill 1504 in the Texas 87th Legislature aims to make ethnic studies classes, such as Mexican American and African American, count toward graduation for high school students. 

Filed by state Rep. Christina Morales (D-Houston), the bill requires Texas public schools to add Mexican American Studies and African American Studies as alternatives to world geography or world history.  

The representative told The Rider that Mexican American and African American studies were approved within the last three years by the Texas Education Agency, but the courses currently count only as electives and not toward credits for graduating. 

“Many times in our communities of color, and particularly our low-income communities, students struggle just to get a high school diploma, and a lot of times they don’t have room for electives,” Morales said. “So, we wanted to make sure that this class would count towards graduation.” 

She said high school students must take three social studies credits to graduate, which are U.S. history, economics and world geography or world history.

 “All we want to do is add two more choices to that last credit, and that would be Mexican American Studies or African American Studies,” Morales said. “But our bill is to include all ethnic studies that may come in the future.”

She said the bill was inspired after a conversation with Tony Diaz, “El Librotraficante,” a writer and community organizer from the Houston area. 

“Him and I had a really long conversation just shortly after the death of George Floyd and we thought that, you know, ethnic studies is so critical to helping, you know, diffuse a lot of these racial tensions that are going on in our community right now,” Morales said. 

Diaz, a contributor to the bill said there are several reasons why culturally relevant courses, such as Mexican American and African American studies, are important. 

“At the strictly logical facet, there’s research that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that students that take culturally relevant courses excel, not just in that class, but across the board,” he said. “Dr. Noel Cabrera, he was the leader for this group of researchers from the University of Arizona who did all the research on the positive effects of Mexican American studies at Tucson Unified School District. Tucson Unified School District went from double-digit dropout rates to a 90% graduation rate for students who took those courses.” 

Diaz said his findings were used as evidence at the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn the state’s ban on ethnic studies. 

“Now, on an emotional level, in the past, we didn’t have evidence such as that, but we had a lot of personal evidence where many people did not read stories about Latinos or by Mexican Americans in their curriculum and when they finally were exposed to it, it changed the way they thought,” he said. 

Diaz said he was a junior in college when he was exposed to stories about Latinos and the narratives transformed the way he wrote. He said he had not written about his own experience before that because he thought it did not have a place in literature. 

“It’s about time that Texas cultivated a curriculum that the logical side is proven to help students like fire them up, get them excited, give them pride and get them really engaged in education,” Diaz said. 

Morales said there is no additional cost to adding ethnic studies classes to the curriculums of public schools. 

“Because instead of having to provide extra staff to teach this as an elective, this will be part of the core curriculum,” she said.  “So, it’ll already be included as part of the, you know, the cost that we already have.” 

Morales said students will be empowered by learning their own ethnic histories. 

“I, personally, am very engaged and connected with my own family’s history of success and trying to make, create change in our community and a lot of times, our students aren’t exposed to their own histories and don’t feel connected,” she said. “They don’t see people who look like them, have names like them or they don’t learn the history of those people being in positions of power and success and wealth and so, we need to empower them by making them feel like they do belong.” 

Christopher Carmona, an associate professor and interim director of the Mexican American Studies Academic Program at UTRGV, said he helped write the bill and explained that ethnic studies courses help high school students pass standardized tests and raise graduation rates. 

Carmona said he has taught early college classes in Brownsville and that students get an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of the country and the roles that Mexicans, Mexican Americans and African Americans play. 

“There’s a sense of appreciation and a desire to learn more,” he said. “And that is really what we want. The more we get the history out about what’s going on with this country and the histories we can tell about, you know, Mexican Americans and African Americans and others, the more critical thinking skills are brought up.”

He said two of his previous students have gone on to pursue a master’s in Mexican American Studies and a doctorate in ethnic studies. 

“So, usually what happens when the students get into these classes, because there’s an awakening that happens within them … they start getting excited about what they’re learning,” Carmona said. 

He said an unintentional effect of these classes is bridging a divide between younger and older generations of Mexicans and Mexican Americans. 

Carmona said he has assignments in which students must interview their family members and talk about the different things they experienced regarding the topics the students are learning in class. 

“What happens is that when they start talking to their grandparents or asking them questions about things, different things, like Cesar Chavez and all this different stuff, and they begin to form a relationship with the older generation, and they start opening up,” he said. 

Asked how likely the bill will become law, Morales replied, “I believe that it’s very likely. We structured the bill so that there’s no physical note. So, there’s no cost to this. This class is already built into the system. Both classes are electives. So, just switching them from an elective to one of the options towards the credit to graduate should be fairly simple.”

She presented HB 1504 to the Public Education House Committee on April 6 and the bill was approved last Thursday. HB 1504 now advances to the House floor.

If approved, HB 1504 would apply only to students entering the ninth grade during the 2022-2023 school year or later. 

“We need to be more unified as a nation and recognize each other’s backgrounds and history,” Morales said.