Hate Doesn’t Belong in the Classroom
By Ben Zaghi, 2020–2021 University of California, San Diego CAMERA Fellow
The opportunity to educate the public is similar to possessing a key that can open two doors. The first door, when unlocked, leads to an endless path to grow and develop positive ideas that benefit society. The second door, when unlocked, leads to an endless path of misinformation and biases that hurt society. Evidently, the power of education is the most prevalent it has ever been as we work to unite all Americans and push for social reform. Consequently, I commend California Governor Newsom for vetoing Assembly Bill 331 on Sept. 30, 2020.
If Assembly Bill 331 had passed without a veto, it would have mandated all California high school students to take at least one semester course from the ethnic studies curriculum proposed in the bill. While some have argued that the goal of ethnic studies is “to be global citizens with an appreciation for the contributions of multiple cultures,” the bill exploits the public’s open-mindedness to blindly open the door that leads to exclusivity, hatred, and misinformation.
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