SF schools to replace ethnic studies curriculum amid backlash
Why it matters: San Francisco high schools' ethnic studies classes, which started as an elective in 2010, became the target of controversy in recent months as some parents accused the district of peddling division and promoting antisemitism, among other concerns.
Driving the news: SFUSD will opt for an off-the-shelf package instead of its home-grown curriculum starting this August.
There will be an audit of current materials, and the school board will have to sign off before the district officially adopts another curriculum.
The year-long ethnic studies course requirement for freshmen, first implemented last year, will remain in place, though students can choose to waive it.
What they're saying: "There is general consensus that ethnic studies as a course is really important," but the district's curriculum has evolved to include lessons that don't reflect its "true tenets," Su told the San Francisco Chronicle Monday.
She did not cite specifics but said generally that parents have complained the curriculum "has flaws."
"We want to ensure that all of our educators are adopting the curriculum in a consistent manner," she said. "I'm putting in more guardrails."
Su did not immediately return a request for comment, while SFUSD directed Axios to its press release on the announcement.
Between the lines: Controversy surrounding ethnic studies has largely centered on how to approach the subject — whether it should focus on appreciating cultures other than your own or systemic racism and white supremacy.
In one case, a unit on social movements included references to the Chinese Red Guards as a push for "change and justice" despite their use of murder, torture and public humiliation to crack down on dissent against Mao Zedong, the San Francisco Standard reports.
Some parents have also argued that lessons perpetrate discrimination against white students, pointing to a reading about white male privilege from 2012.
The big picture: California became the first state to establish a one-semester ethnic studies course as a graduation requirement for public high school students when AB101 was signed into law in 2021.
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"Voters just don't trust him anymore to look out for their pocketbooks, improve their schools, or get the City of Chicago back on track," he added. That dynamic is also a reminder that data doesn't always drive perception. While violent crime is declining in Chicago, San Francisco's challenges remain tied to perceptions of disorder. Yet one mayor is being rewarded and the other punished in the court of public opinion. "It's less about data tables and more about whether people believe their mayor is visibly in control of the situation," said Simpson, the former Chicago alderman. The contrast underscores how fragile political capital can be in America's largest cities. In San Francisco, visible urgency has translated into trust and a sense of momentum. Lurie has leaned into that visibility, walking the long-troubled Tenderloin district with police, cutting ribbons at treatment centers and projecting a constant state of optimism across social media. However, in Chicago, even measurable progress has struggled to cut through when residents don't feel it in their daily lives — a gap that can define a mayor's legacy as much as any policy win or loss, Simpson said.
