MCSD students say curriculum isn’t diverse enough. They’re petitioning for these changes
After protests against racism erupted across the nation last year, Northside High School junior Jaclyn Griffin felt compelled to join the movement. She wasn’t old enough to drive to a demonstration, however, and she wanted to do more than sign an online petition.
When she noticed a social media post from California-based Diversify Our Narrative (DON), her initial thought was, “Oh, another petition.”
But when she read that DON was looking for students to become community organizers, her mind turned to, “Wow, I feel like I can actually make a difference.”
DON’s website describes itself as a “100% grassroots organization” of high school and college students “pushing for equitable, long-lasting reform” to make curriculum and teaching more inclusive.
Without a chapter in Georgia at that point, Griffin established one here.
“I could not be happier that it happened,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Now, the Muscogee DON chapter’s online petition has 108 signatures among 74,304 nationwide. The Georgia petition proposes seven reforms, but the local chapter wants to start with one.
Its August letter to the Muscogee County School Board states, “We demand the inclusion of a mandatory unit in the English/Literature curriculum that spans approximately three school weeks educating all of the student population with anti-racist texts ranging from essays, collections and novels written by BIPOC (Black, indigenous and other people of color) authors and/or a total reform of the standards that encourages total diversity of studies literature in classrooms alongside suggested literature for personal engagement.”
The curriculum is too “Eurocentric” to achieve racial equity in the education of its students, the Muscogee DON chapter contends.
The text
Jaclyn said two of the 12 books or plays she has been assigned to read in high school were written by people of color, and one of those was her choice.
Columbus High School junior Ian Kelley, the Muscogee DON chapter’s co-leader, said two out of approximately 10 books he has been assigned to read in high school were written by people of color.
Muscogee County’s 2019 population estimate shows a majority of its 195,739 residents are people of color, with 43.3% white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Last school year, Jaclyn said, her AP World History course spent “maybe a week on Africa. I learned about like three empires and a little about tribes, and then we moved on. We didn’t learn about African history until the Columbian Exchange. And after that, it was just about slavery.”
Ian and Jacklyn reiterated the Muscogee DON chapter’s request when they spoke to the board during its Oct. 5 meeting. They want to return.
“We hope to get a bigger response out of them this time,” Jaclyn said. “Last time, we got a response, and it was like, ‘It was nice hearing you. I’m glad you’re activists. I’m glad you’re fighting for this cause.’ But we didn’t necessarily get action.”
District’s response
Mike Edmondson of District 2 was the only representative on the nine-member board who responded to the letter, Jaclyn said.
Edmondson, a retired science teacher, died from cancer Feb. 10. He wrote in his reply, “I am in agreement that we must better inform and educate people as to the overt, and subtle, expressions of racism in our own area and in the nation at large.”
MCSD board chairwoman Pat Hugley Green, in an email to the L-E, praised the students for taking “ownership in their educational process” and for the mature way they are criticizing the status quo.
“The awareness, determination and petition for an actionable response is the best example of an appropriate method to engage policymakers and to articulate concerns and issues,” she said.
Green promised, “The board will listen and work with the superintendent and his team for best options. We will also encourage the students to listen to MCSD’s current process and weigh in on areas of improvement.”
MCSD communications director Mercedes Parham also lauded the students’ engagement.
“Our district is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts as outlined in our strategic plan,” she said in an email to the L-E. “However, we realize this level of commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is a continuous improvement process. It is our aspiration to continue realizing our strategic anchors with equity-based initiatives that reflect our mission, vision and values.”
Parham noted MCSD’s textbook adoption committee comprises a diverse cross section of teachers, administrators and academic coaches. Teachers can also select additional materials that align with the Georgia Standards of Excellence, she said.
“High school English collections of texts are theme-based and represent topics such as modern life in a globally connected world, creating a unified whole from diverse individuals, etc., with Black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) authors,” she said.
Parham added that a “near-term” goal for MCSD includes “conducting an equity audit, with an evidence-based strategic partner, and facilitating dialogue with our students, teachers, community leaders and parents regarding the tenets of our strategic plan.”
The state’s standards don’t require or recommend specific textbooks or other reading materials for courses. Those decisions are made at the local level.
Instead, the state’s standards “lay out what students should know and be able to do at each grade,” Georgia Department of Education communications director Meghan Frick told the L-E in an email.
Changes
Responding to public feedback this summer, Frick said, the GaDOE added several new options that make the catalog of state-funded social studies courses more diverse: African American/Black Studies, U.S. Latinx Studies, Asian American Studies, American Indian Studies and U.S. Women’s Studies.
The Georgia General Assembly is considering legislation that would mandate some of the changes Jaclyn and Ian seek.
If enacted, according to the proposal’s summary, Georgia Senate Bill 15 “would create a new category of coursework dealing with the history of Black people and their contributions to American society.”
It would amend the law that allows local school boards to make learning certain “founding philosophy and principles” of the nation a graduation requirement.
The proposed addition would require teaching “the history of Black Americans, including the history of Black people before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery, the passage of America, the enslavement experience, the antislavery movement, and the contributions of Black people to American society.”
Motivation
Jaclyn estimated the Muscogee DON chapter has about a dozen active members. Ian explained why he’s among them.
“My motivation comes from being a student of color and being biracial,” Ian said. “My father is Irish, and my mother is Black. I feel like I have a unique perspective in being able to understand both sides and emotionally relate to both sides.
“My mother has always taught me about the leaders who have fought for rights and how important it is to continue the fight, and I saw it as an opportunity to do that.”
Jaclyn, who is white, said being raised in a Southern state with a history of racism made her fearful to speak out.
“I kind of just got over that this year,” she said. “I was like, ‘You know what? It’s kind of selfish not doing it.’ It’s tiring seeing discrimination to people about things they can’t control. I can’t control the color of my skin. I can’t control the sex I’ve been born as. I can’t control who I love.”
Jaclyn and Ian said they appreciate the teachers who have taken time to make their instruction more diverse.
“Since only a few teachers are doing this, and it’s only because of their own choices, I feel like that’s not a good thing,” Jaclyn said. “… It should be required.”
Ian learned outside of school the following advancements in science and math were developed by people of color: African-Americans Charles Drew (blood bank), Daniel Hale Williams (open-heart surgery), Lewis Howard Latimer (carbon filament for incandescent light bulb), Garrett Morgan (traffic light) and Persian Al-Khwarizmi (algebra).
Acknowledging they can read diverse books and learn about diverse historical figures on their own, Jaclyn and Ian emphasized the importance of a diverse education in public schools.
“Listening to some of my friends and other organizers, they all have the same story about, ‘I wasn’t able to relate to anything. I wasn’t able to see figures that I could put myself up to,’” Jaclyn said.
Ian added, “When you don’t see it equally represented across the board, where there is plenty of other people who contributed to society just as much, it’s demeaning in a way because you grow up thinking you can’t be as good as the people you learn about.”
READING LIST
Here is the list of books Griffin said she has been assigned in high school. The books written by people of color are in italics:
9th grade
- “Alas, Babylon” by Pat Frank
- “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
- “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
10th grade
- “The Rent Collector” by Camron Wright
- “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles
- “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller
- “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
- “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
11th grade
- “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi (personal choice)
- “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass
- “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls (personal choice)
- “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
