AB 146, Cristina Garcia. Pupil instruction: social sciences: deportations to Mexico.
Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences. Existing law requires the instruction in social sciences, for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to provide instruction in, among other things, human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust, and contemporary issues.
Existing law encourages the State Department of Education to incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources materials that are age appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with specified genocides. Existing law states that the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, as specified, and encourages professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, the Armenian Genocide, and the Holocaust.
This bill would, for purposes of encouraging the incorporation of survivor and witness testimony into the teaching of human rights, include the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States within the definition of human rights. The bill would encourage professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about that deportation. The bill would require the State Board of Education to consider providing for the inclusion of the study of that deportation when the curriculum frameworks for history-social science are revised on or after January 1, 2016.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:
(a) (1) The department shall incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction, trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private organizations, that are age appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
(2) The Legislature encourages the department to incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction, trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private organizations, that are age appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
(b) (1) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including, but not limited to, the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
(2) As used in this subdivision, “oral testimony” means the firsthand accounts of significant historical events presented in a format that includes, but is not limited to, in-person testimony, video, or a multimedia option, such as a DVD or an online video.
(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist them in teaching about civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, the Armenian Genocide, and the Holocaust.
(d) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist them in teaching about the Great Irish Famine of 1845-50.
(e) The Great Irish Famine of 1845-50 shall be considered in the next cycle in which the history-social science curriculum framework and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
(f) When the history-social science curriculum framework is revised as required by law, the Instructional Quality Commission shall consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides in the recommended history-social science curriculum framework.
(g) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide adopted by the state board, pursuant to Section 51226, shall be made available to schools in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as soon as funding is available for this purpose. In addition, the department shall make the curriculum available on its Internet Web site.
(h) For purposes of this article, “Armenian Genocide” means the torture, starvation, and murder of 1,500,000 Armenians, which included death marches into the Syrian desert, by the rulers of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the exile of more than 500,000 innocent people during the period from 1915 to 1923, inclusive.
(i) When the state board revises and adopts the curriculum framework for history-social science on or after January 1, 2016, the state board shall consider providing for the inclusion, in that curriculum framework, evaluation criteria, and accompanying instructional materials, of instruction on the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States.
(j) As used in subdivisions (b) and (c), “human rights” and “human rights violations” include the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States.
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