Ethnic Studies: Make Our Children Literate Again! (MOCLA!)

“MOCLA” is a Spanish-Mexican word, used particularly among children. It refers to a “backpack” or “book bag” – a bag used to carry school supplies. “MOCHILA” is used instead in other Spanish speaking countries.

MOCLA (or MOCHILA) stands also for “Make Our Children Literate Again”.

I enclose below a letter I published in the “Sacramento Bee” newspaper, California, in September 2019:

Here’s a practical solution

“Bill to mandate ethnic studies in California high schools delayed amid controversy” (sacbee.com, Aug. 23,2019):

“The ethnic studies curriculum initiative that would require all California high school students to take an ethnic studies course has generated controversy and it is doubtful if it will ever make everyone happy. Based on my experience as a Jewish child in Argentina, I would like to propose a practical solution. In Argentina, there was a similar compulsory course in the public schools of indoctrination (in the Catholic religion, in that case). However, Jewish students were exempted and given instead a course on humanistic literature. As a child, I enjoyed reading the works of the great writers and their moral teachings. A similar approach could be applied in California. Parents could opt their children out of taking an ethnic studies course and enroll them into an alternative humanistic literature studies course. Parents in every local school district could have their say in the literary works chosen for this humanistic curriculum.

(end of letter) [1]

Unfortunately, the Californian legislators, sitting in Sacramento, the capital city of California, did not follow my suggestion, and they approved later that year a new curriculum for K12 schools, including a mandatory “Ethnic Studies” course for 9^th graders. That curriculum was full with antisemitic content, and was vetoed by governor Gavin Newsom.

However, activists centered at the Social Studies departments of the California State University campuses, continued their push to make “Ethnic Studies” a compulsory requirement for graduation at high schools, and they finally succeeded in March 2021, when the new “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum” was approved into law (“California Assembly Bill 101”)

The bill, as passed, achieves de-facto the dream pushed by the original extreme proponents of the introduction of “Ethnic Studies” courses in K12 schools (currently under the umbrella of the “Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum” (“LESMC”) movement.)

After all the brouhaha and fights of Jewish organizations around the initial antisemitic contents of the original 2019 “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum”, the new AB-101 California bill from 2021 gives ample freedom to teachers of “Ethnic Studies” courses to set the actual content of the courses as they wish.

People might never know the actual content of an “Ethnic Studies” course developed by some obscure author or local school district: There are 1,037 school districts in California alone, and each one is entitled by the AB-101 bill to develop its own “Ethnic Studies” course!

But when parents finally do know, it is usually too late: The latest example was the fight lately held by my neighbors, in the Palo Alto Unified School District of California: Parents – who proposed the alternative of making the “Ethnic Studies” course for 9^th graders an elective – lost in a 3-2 vote of the PAUSD Board, in a tumultuous meeting where many parents were forced to stay outside the room, while the proponents of the course – teachers and activist students – filled the room and voiced their forceful support inside.[2]

And to be clear: Not only Jewish American parents do not like what they see, also Asian American parents do not like this either, and when they oppose the mandatory “Ethnic Studies” course, they face an unrelented smear campaign that gives them second thoughts about whether it is worth continuing with their public service, as experienced by the Chinese American woman, Rowena Chiu, a member of the PAUSD Board, who voted against making the “Ethnic Studies” course a mandatory requirement for graduation.[3]

What should Jewish parents do?

I am not a fan of teaching the Arab-Israeli conflict in K12 schools in the US: K12 public schools already struggle to teach the basic tools and subjects that children need to succeed in life (English, Math, the History of the United States and Civics come to mind). The Arab-Israeli conflict is not one of them. It would be wiser to concentrate on the basics and avoid diverting funds, teacher resources and precious student hours to this subject. However, if the National Education Association, or some local school districts insist, then both perspectives – the Arab and the Jewish perspective – should be included and discussed in class! [4]

The mandatory “Ethnic Studies” course for 9^th graders in Palo Alto – as well as in other local school districts in California – is racist. It is based on a superficial binary oppressor versus oppressed narrative, and in this narrative the Jews are placed by others (self-elected as the “enlightened”) as “oppressors”, as part of the class of “white people” oppressing the indigenous “people of color”, who should repent for their “whiteness” if they live in the US, and should be boycotted if they live in Israel. This comprises about 95% of the Jewish people, and makes the Jews a unique community on Earth, worth of special condemnation.

In the minds of the proponents of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Curriculum, the classification of the Jews as “oppressors” cannot be contested, and since “oppressors” cannot have a sit at the table, their perspective should not be heard in the classroom. This totalitarian ideology should be defeated.

MOCLA !! Make Our Children Literate Again!

References

[1] Here is the link to my letter, published in the “Sacramento Bee” newspaper, in September 2019:

https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article235158482.html

[2] John Fensterwald, “Anatomy of a divided California school board’s vote on ethnic studies”, EdSource, January 27, 2025:

https://edsource.org/2025/anatomy-of-a-divided-school-boards-vote-on-ethnic-studies/725672

[3] LaMonica Peters, “Palo Alto school district weighs response to board member’s controversial social media post”, KTVU Fox 2, February 11, 2025

https://www.ktvu.com/news/palo-alto-school-district-weighs-response-board-members-controversial-social-media-post

[4] The Jewish perspective is presented in my book “Ethnic Studies in K12 schools: The Jewish module” (November 2024 edition). The book in available in paperback and Kindle. It is also available for free download (pdf) to all – parents, teachers, and students – at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361800823_Ethnic_Studies_in_K12_schools_The_Jewish_module