OPINION | EDUCATION | POLITICS

California Bills Covertly Promote Gaslighting in Schools

We cannot allow hate and fear to steer our schools

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

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Two of my children attend California public schools. My eldest graduated from the California system and is attending college. I want my children to flourish in a peaceful, healthy, hope-filled world — a world that will only be possible if children learn universal love and conflict resolution skills.

My children and I have close friends who are Jewish. I also have several Palestinian-American friends, some of whom have lost family members and friends in Gaza. I’ve worn my kufiya and Palestinian flag pin to school and sporting events to show my opposition to the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Rather than ignoring difficult conversations, I want to show my children we can learn to have healthy dialogue about hard topics. I wish I saw more examples of this in my children’s schools.

Sadly, the California Legislature is discussing a slate of bills aimed in the opposite direction. Hearings begin Monday on SB 1277, SB 1287, AB 2918, and AB 2925. All four bills covertly promote fear, hate, and gaslighting in our schools.

If passed, these bills will make it even more difficult for teachers to teach about ethnic studies and genocide. They would also further jeopardize the safety and well-being of Palestinian-American and Muslim students and protesters at all education levels.

• SB 1287 seeks to alter existing university anti-discrimination laws and codes of conduct to scare university students into silence. Written in response to anti-genocide protests, its unstated goal is to limit and prevent pro-Palestine speech.
• SB 1277 invests state funds into a pro-Israel organization that seeks to create one-sided K-12 curricula that intentionally exclude critical discussion of Palestine while denying the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
• AB 2918 creates yet another barrier to local school districts’ ability to develop and implement ethnic studies curricula. The bill adds an extra round to the approval process. It also enables stakeholders who do not have children in district…