According to Brandy Shufutinsky, ethnic studies are brainwashing kids with anti-Semitic prejudices.
According to the Jerusalem post article, even though anti-Israel activists have been outspoken since October 7, their radical opinions do not reflect those of the majority of Americans. Despite this, their voices are being made louder in our children's classrooms in the American K-12 education system.
Numerous parents, students, and teachers are committed to restoring the K-12 system following its manipulation by malicious individuals who used it to spread misinformation about the United States, Israel, Jews, and society as a whole. After the October 7 massacre by Hamas, numerous people were left scared and devastated, while the ensuing events left others puzzled.
It was hard to believe that students, teachers, and administrators in K-12 schools would support terrorism, with adults urging children to sympathize with terrorists who committed atrocities. Many people showed support for Hamas after October 7, revealing the underlying problems in the K-12 education system in America. Activists utilize programs in ethnic studies to advance their ideological agenda through an analysis of settler-colonialism and oppression using a binary lens.
Prior to October 7, this conflict was happening behind the scenes, as activists were mobilizing and advocating for academic standards to advance their causes, such as the recent implementation of ethnic studies mandates in California, Boston, and Minnesota.
Many individuals who are open-minded embraced classes that reflected the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup of our society and aimed to create ethnic studies courses that fulfil their purpose of educating about the experiences and contributions of different ethnicities in America.
Regrettably, numerous scholars and advocates in ethnic studies have insisted on defining the field through radical activism and the binary of oppression, rather than focusing on the study of communities and individuals.
In autumn of 2025, California public and charter schools must provide an ethnic studies course to all students as part of their mandatory high school program. A legitimate battle is taking place in California and other areas with ethnic studies mandates on the curriculum about what students should be taught. Extreme ethnic studies activists are seizing this chance to defend terrorism as a valid form of opposition and distort history and present circumstances as they undermine our children's ethics. The ethnic studies program is not the sole means for introducing hateful ideology into K-12 classrooms. Additional programs such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), culturally responsive education (CRE), and teacher professional development (PD) are employed to uphold the belief that "resistance is necessary when individuals are under occupation."
After the October 7 Hamas massacre, the radical ethnic studies activists have organized protests that urge students to show solidarity with Hamas, protested at school boards to demand a Gaza ceasefire allowing Hamas to stay in charge and for the release of 120 Israeli captives, created new curriculums that misrepresent history and vilify Jewish self-governance, and instructed educators and students with materials that deny Jewish heritage.
Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky is the Director of Education of Community Engagement at the Jewish Institute of Liberal Values (JILV) and a co-founder of the Coalition for Empowered Education (CEE).