Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary social science course that seeks to, in the words of the California History-Social Science Framework, “address content considered missing from traditional curriculum and to encourage critical engagement” through the analysis and critique of history as it relates to historically disenfranchised groups. Ethnic Studies encourages students to explore the historic struggles, current experiences, and perspectives of people of color, including where the axes of racial and ethnic identity intersect with gender, class, sexuality, and other components of what may define an individual or community.

Through engagement, inquiry, analysis, reflection, and critique, students in the Ethnic Studies course will develop a more inclusive understanding of the United States and its past by examining dominant narratives and critical or counter-narratives; centering the history of people of color in the United States, California, and Ventura County, and their relationship to systems of power. Ethnic Studies attempts to develop students’ awareness of civic and social responsibility, justice, and their ability to be agents of change in their communities. Ethnic Studies challenges “racism, discrimination, and oppression and the systems that continue to perpetuate inequality” (California History-Social Science Framework).