We Can Build a More Inclusive Curriculum for Our Michigan Students
Close your eyes and picture yourself back in your third grade classroom. As you think about history lessons during this time, what do you remember learning? Who do you remember learning about? Did they look like you? Did you learn about YOUR history? Was your community’s history reflected in those lessons?
As I close my eyes and take this walk down memory lane beside you, I am reminded that I spent my entire K-12 experience not learning about my community’s history or about how much of an impact Chaldeans had on Michigan. I didn’t realize how little I knew about my own community and our rich history until I did my own research and took courses on Middle Eastern history during college. Why wasn’t my history important enough to be taught in our history curriculum during K-12? Not just mine, but all of our histories.
The Teach MI History campaign is a statewide coalition of parents, students, educators, and community members advocating for an inclusive K-12 history curriculum in our public schools. We believe that all children deserve to see themselves reflected in the education they receive. For over a third of K-12 students in Michigan who identify as a person of color, the current Michigan K-12 social studies curriculum falls short when it comes to teaching the histories of the diverse communities in our state. Students of all backgrounds benefit from learning about diverse communities, which broadens their perspectives, builds empathy, and fosters critical thinking to better prepare them for an increasingly global world. Exclusion from the curriculum means that students don’t see themselves in the education they receive – contributing to the long-standing erasure of the various diverse communities that built the state we live in today.
Research shows that students who see themselves in their curriculum are more engaged, perform better academically, and have higher rates of graduation. A culturally inclusive curriculum is not just about academics — it is about building a sense of belonging. When students see themselves reflected in their education, they are less likely to experience bullying, absenteeism, and mental health challenges. For students from diverse and multicultural backgrounds, this can be life-changing. Every day that goes by without an inclusive curriculum is a day students are told, explicitly or implicitly, that their stories don’t matter.
The Teach MI History Bill Package (SB 453-455) and (HB 4687-HB 4689), introduced by Senator Stephanie Chang, Senator Darrin Camilleri, Senator Erika Geiss, Representative Jason Hoskins, Representative Matt Koleszar, and Representative Veronica Paiz, seeks to correct this injustice by ensuring that Michigan’s K-12 social studies curriculum will include dedicated units of instruction on the following communities:
Asian American and Pacific Islander
Black American
European American
Indigenous People
Jewish American
Latin American, Hispanic American, and Caribbean American
Middle East, North African, and Chaldean American
This inclusive curriculum bill package includes three bills that will create one unit of instruction for each ethnic and cultural group, an advisory board to support the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) with representation from each community and educators, and a professional development piece to ensure that educators receive the tools and resources they need to teach inclusive history with care and accuracy. The units of instruction for each of these communities will cover:
Major historical events of the diaspora for each community.
Contributions made by individuals in different ethnic communities to government, the arts, humanities, and sciences and the contributions of communities to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the United States.
History in Michigan and the Midwest, including past discriminatory policies.
Contributions made by individuals and toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward.
As we await hearings to be scheduled in either chambers’ committee, we are working to build our coalition to include more students, educators, and parents. As a coalition, we are committed to uplifting the voices, cultures, contributions, and histories of communities of color and Indigenous peoples in public schools across the state. To support the Teach MI History campaign to advocate for an education for all Michigan students that reflects their community’s journeys and histories, and demand the best education for our students, sign our petition today at bit.ly/TeachMIHistory!
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Brenda Maqdasi is the Policy Coordinator at Rising Voices, an advocacy and organizing non-profit organization dedicated to building the leadership of Asian American women, youth, and families in Michigan. If you would like to get connected and learn more about how you can support the Teach MI History campaign, please reach out at brenda@risingvoicesaaf.org or follow us on Instagram @teachmihistory.
