Too woke for California: Inside the war over 'scary' class that even ultra-liberal Bay Area parents fear will 'indoctrinate' children

It might be the last place you would expect a backlash against a 'left-wing agenda'.

But a 'radical' new ethnic studies course is proving too much for liberal Bay Area parents, who have launched a revolt against the introduction of what they claim are 'Marxist' classes in local schools.

Those opposed to the plans say children as young as 14 are being 'indoctrinated' by an ideology that does not represent their community.

The fierce backlash in Palo Alto, the birthplace of Silicon Valley, is part of a new culture war raging across California as the true blue state becomes the first in the US to require all students to take an ethnic studies course.

Even lifelong Democrats have set up lobby groups opposing 'ideological' classes that they say 'sow bigotry', 'glorify violent movements' and 'equate capitalism with racism'.

They have also been embroiled in allegations of antisemitism.  

In one Bay Area school, an ethnic studies teacher sparked fury after presenting a lesson that inaccurately claimed the United Nations considered the creation of Israel illegal.

It also included a slide depicting a hand manipulating a puppet, recalling antisemitic tropes about secret Jewish control of government, the media and finance.

Linor Lava, a founding member of the Palo Alto Parent Alliance, whose son is an incoming senior, told DailyMail.com that the proposed curriculum was 'frankly scary'.

She said that while the Bay Area was liberal, most parents did not agree with the 'extreme ideologies' set to be taught in schools.

'It doesn't represent a huge swath of the community,' she added.

The dispute is a flavor of what lies ahead across America, as states including Oregon, Vermont and Minnesota plan to introduce K-12 ethnic studies in the coming years.

It centers around differing interpretations of what 'ethnic studies' is.

One is an 'inclusive' approach, which advocates say offers students an opportunity to learn about both the contributions and struggles of California's ethnic groups, but crucially avoids pitting communities against each other.

It is this form of ethnic studies that has been supported by Governor Gavin Newsom and state legislators.

Parents in Palo Alto and elsewhere, however, fear that out-of-touch educators are in fact ushering in an ideological and 'divisive' version that reduces history to 'oppressors versus the oppressed' and 'seeks to create a generation of activists'.

This 'liberated' ethnic studies has its roots in the 1960s Black Power movement's neo-Marxist critical race theory, which has been attacked by critics for admonishing all white people as oppressors.

Supporters of liberated ethnic studies say racism and white supremacy are real and must be addressed in the classroom. 

Its teaching has been restricted or banned in 17 states, according to Education Week, but only one of which, Virginia, voted Democrat in 2020.

But it now appears to be enraging California moderates.

Lifelong Democrat Elina Kaplan co-founded the Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies to challenge the use of 'liberated' ethnic studies in California.

Its campaign slogan reads: 'Don't let ethnic studies be hijacked by a narrow ideological agenda.'

In Palo Alto, parents have raised concerns that the school district has enlisted an education group whose logo is a tombstone etched 'herein lyeth buried capitalism and control' as curriculum consultants.

The Berkeley History Social-Science Project has been working with the district to build a pilot ethnic studies class this fall, before the mandatory course is rolled out next year.

In May, the Palo Alto Parent Alliance circulated a letter highlighting lesson plans and texts previously advertised by the Berkeley project.

These included the seminal 'liberated' ethnic studies book 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed', which calls for a 'cultural revolution' that 'involves gunpowder'.

One presentation under a lesson called 'Manifestos for a Just Society' includes the Communist Manifesto and literature from the Cuban Revolution.

The school district has said that the material on the Berkeley project's website does not apply to the course that will be taught to Palo Alto children.

Associated Superintendent Guillermo Lopez told The San Francisco Chronicle that the aim 'is to be inclusive of all communities'.

But parents have hit back, saying the district has not been transparent about what is included in the course, despite repeated requests for clarity.

Sarith Honigstein, 47, said educators had refused to meet with parents or provide details beyond unit titles of what was to be included in classes.

'That's the crazy thing,' she told DailyMail.com. 'There is little to no transparency.

'There is no opposition to ethnic studies at all. We hope that it will cover the very real hardships ethnic groups have faced, such as slavery and racism.

'But the key is balance. A course that relegates groups to oppressors and oppressed is problematic for us.'

A petition by the Palo Alto Parent Alliance to pause the rollout of the ethnic studies pilot has gained 1,400 signatures.

Jason Muñiz, director of the Berkeley History-Social Science Project, said that their aim was not to tell teachers to teach one curriculum over another, but to help them tailor the class to their own district.

Similar arguments are playing out across the state, with officials in San Mateo receiving hundreds of emails last year from parents saying that the district's ethnic studies course was pushing a left-wing agenda onto students.

Superintendent Randall Booker refuted the claims.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit Deborah Project, which represents Jewish and pro-Israel interests, has sued the Los Altos High School District in a bid to get it to release documents related to its ethnic studies curriculum.

The issue has been flagged by the Newsom administration itself, with education advisor Brooks Allen writing to school leaders in August last year highlighting how some courses have been offering materials that promote bias, bigotry and discrimination against particular groups.

And an editorial in The Los Angeles Times warned the incoming curriculum 'feels like it is more about imposing predigested political views on students than about widening their perspectives'.

Ethnic studies will be taught at all Californian high schools starting in 2025-26 and will become a graduation requirement in 2030.

Governor Gavin Newsom has put $50million towards curriculum development and teacher development.

DailyMail.com contacted the California Department of Education for comment.