Of Babies and Bathwater
By Mitch Siegler, Founder

Ethnic studies was a good idea. America has been growing more religiously and ethnically diverse for decades, and it’s important for everyone – especially the next generation – to have an understanding of the “ingredients” of our nation’s famous melting pot. The more students know about their fellow citizens, the better prepared they’ll be to work together to realize our common goals.

Unfortunately, both ends of the political spectrum have been getting critical things wrong in their approach to the discipline of ethnic studies.

Some leftists believe that “liberated” ethnic studies (LES) is the only “authentic” way to teach the topic. For them, teaching LES is a moral imperative; under their framework, education isn’t about preparing students to succeed in an ethnically and ideologically diverse country, it’s an inherently political exercise that should mold students into activists for those social justice causes the ideologue chooses. Taking their cues from critical race theory, they explicitly reject multicultural ethnic studies that focuses on celebrating the histories and achievements and exploring the challenges and hardships of all the members of America’s demographic tapestry, dismissing it as a sanitized curriculum that doesn’t center the groups they deem to be “oppressed.” LES teaches that there are no common American goals, only the conflict between oppressors and oppressed, between a discriminatory status quo and “equity.” University students may be able to explore these ideas when they’re presented in a nuanced, balanced fashion but we’re setting ourselves up for disaster when elementary and middle school students are told what they should think and do.

Meanwhile, some on the right write off ethnic studies education entirely, believing that the discipline is irreparably corrupted by Marxism and is beyond salvage. For them, acknowledging the role played by the diverse histories of Americans of different colors and creeds is an inherently divisive approach that risks balkanizing our citizens. They argue that American History courses cover everything ethnic studies would, and that they do it from a more unifying perspective.

Neither view is entirely fair nor correct.

The far left’s impulse to uplift communities that have historically experienced exclusion, violence, and discrimination is noble in concept. In practice, however, it devolves into a never-ending blame game that teaches students to argue about whose suffering is greater and to see others as members of a racialized hierarchy of oppression rather than as individuals and fellow students and countrymen/women. The refusal to acknowledge the progress towards equal opportunity that diverse coalitions of Americans have worked so hard to achieve for many decades, and their rigid, zero-sum worldview sows mutual suspicion rather than understanding. Groups that don’t fit neatly into their arbitrary boxes – including Jews, multiracial people, and many Asians – are either ignored or labeled “oppressors.”

The fundamental appeals to patriotism and unifying principles from some on the right are similarly noble in concept. Yet by rejecting any form of ethnic studies as divisive, they promote a monocultural perspective that doesn’t map to the American reality and risks glossing over uncomfortable aspects of our shared history. Spending time teaching about Jim Crow, Japanese internment, redlining, or brutality against American Indians doesn’t deny our country’s ideals – if anything, it shows how far we’ve come by virtue of the strength of our diverse democracy.

That’s why THINC advocates for a common-sense middle way. We believe that when taught from a constructive, multicultural perspective, ethnic studies can reinforce the concept of e pluribus unum – “out of many, one.” It’s important to know how we got here, warts and all, and how American identity continues to be shaped by contributions from a wide range of peoples and cultures. Understanding that complements, rather than negates, the idea that no matter where your ancestors came from, we can all achieve a better life through the opportunities that freedom provides.

Please join us in holding the baby close as we work to throw out the bathwater.