Read Part 1: “Out of Touch” JCRC Censors Jewish Moms’ Feedback
Part 1 reported that JCRC recently censored at least three Jewish moms’ Instagram comments that criticized JCRC’s policies, while at the same time claiming to conduct a “survey” of Bay Area Jews.
A significant part of the censored Jewish moms’ feedback specifically criticized JCRC for its support of Ethnic Studies in Bay Area high schools. One censored mom wrote: “Allyship above the Jewish community’s own safety is a failing strategy. Ethnic studies, promoted by your own CEO [Tye Gregory] has been a disaster, all in the name of allyship.”
I understand why JCRC doesn’t want to discuss criticism of its work on Ethnic Studies. Ethnic Studies is an outright antisemitic disaster that JCRC inexplicably continues to support, even after the material has indisputably become more antisemitic after October 7. In this Part 2, I will explain the Jewish moms’ disagreement with JCRC.
For those from out of state, Ethnic Studies is a newly developed class that has already — or will soon — become a high school graduation requirement in California for all freshmen. Working up to the current model curriculum, JCRC proudly says that it contributed “three years of advocacy” with “32 California Jewish organizations,” and “the Legislative Jewish Caucus.”
JCRC and their partners have done more harm than good by stamping their approval on the current model curriculum. Unfortunately, this misrepresents to public schools that the Jewish community approves of what they are teaching in Ethnic Studies. This is not the case. Schools have made it very difficult for Jewish parents to even find out what they are teaching. Yossi Fendel, a Jewish parent at Berkeley High School, asked to see the post October 7 Israel/Palestinian curriculum his son’s teachers announced they would teach, but they wouldn’t show it to him until after he made a formal demand and filed a lawsuit to enforce his public records act request. In the meantime, a teacher gaslighted him by saying “I am slightly confused by your request. Curriculum refers to a lot of things…What precisely are you asking for?” Now that we know they are teaching that Israel is a colonizer of the indigenous Palestinians, it’s time to reconsider Jewish support for Ethnic Studies altogether.
At best, JCRC can claim that they made Ethnic Studies “better” compared to when it was first envisioned by proponents of “liberated” Ethnic Studies, but this is no excuse for their approval of the current version. This early draft curriculum of Ethnic Studies was rejected as “too antisemitic,” yet Ethnic Studies as a whole—along with the current finalized model curriculum—has been approved and is actively supported by JCRC since it was released in 2022. Further, teachers can develop their own curriculum and are not even required to use the model curriculum. The previously rejected “liberated” antisemitic content has already come into the classroom, yet the leaders of JCRC continue to publicly advocate for Ethnic Studies. JCRC argues that it is “proud of our successful track record supporting ethnic studies” and claims that the “approved version excludes discriminatory content.”
I’m not sure why JCRC thinks there’s no “discriminatory content” in the model curriculum. In fact, it singles out Jews for utter contempt and derision. Ethnic Studies presents itself as deep and intellectual, but beneath the jargon, it boils down to a simplistic, three-step formula for antisemitism. In Part 3, I will review the simple three steps Ethnic Studies uses to teach antisemitism.
Comments 3