Human-Centered Education

1. Hands-on Science Education

The Current Problem:

Underfunded Science: 40% of schools lack adequate lab equipment
Teacher Shortages: 100,000 STEM teacher vacancies
Lecture-Based: Students watch, don't do

The Solution:

A. Universal Laboratory Equipment:

Every School Gets: Microscopes, Bunsen burners, glassware, chemicals, and safety equipment
Cost: $50,000/school x 100,000 schools = $5 billion (one-time)
Ongoing: $500/year/school for supplies = $50 million/year

B. Science Outdoors:

Field Research: Students conduct real science in local ecosystems
- Stream water quality testing
- Bird population surveys
- Soil carbon measurements
- Tree identification, forest health assessments
Partnerships: Local universities and environmental organizations mentor student researchers

C. Maker Spaces:

Every School: 3D printers, electronics kits, robotics, and woodworking tools
Student-Driven Projects: Build robots and design solutions to community problems
Cost: $100,000/school x 100,000 schools = $10 billion

2. Climate Science Priority

Implementation:

K-12 Climate Curriculum:

Elementary: Weather, seasons, ecosystems, recycling, and gardening
Middle School: Climate science, renewable energy, and environmental justice
High School: Advanced climate science, climate policy, and climate solutions

Hands-On Learning:

School Solar Panels: Students monitor energy production and earn about clean energy
Weather Stations: Collect local climate data and contribute to national datasets
School Gardens: Understand food systems, carbon cycle, and soil health
Energy Audits: Students assess school energy use, and propose efficiency improvements

Climate Justice Integration:

Not Just Science, But Justice: Who is harmed by climate change? (Global South, poor communities, and Indigenous peoples)
Historical Responsibility: U.S./Europe caused crisis, must lead solutions
Youth Activism: Support student climate strikes and advocacy (not punish)

Partnerships:

Scientists in Classrooms: Climate researchers present latest findings
Climate Jobs Pipeline: High school → community college → renewable energy careers

3. Technology Ethics

Implementation:

Curriculum:

Middle School:

Algorithm Awareness: How TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube algorithms work
- "Why do I see this content?" (engagement maximization, not user wellbeing)
Digital Privacy: What data is collected, who profits, and how to protect yourself
Cyberbullying: Recognition, prevention, and seeking help

High School:

AI Bias: Facial recognition fails on Black faces (racist training data)
- Hiring algorithms discriminate against women (trained on male-dominated fields)
- Predictive policing targets Black neighborhoods (feedback loop of over-policing)
Surveillance Capitalism: Shoshana Zuboff's framework (companies profit from predicting/manipulating behavior)
Social Media Manipulation: How platforms addict users, spread misinformation, and polarize society

Critical Questions:

"Should AI make decisions about hiring, lending, parole?"
"Who should control your data?"
"What tech should be banned?"

Student Projects:

Research: Local use of surveillance tech (police body cams, school metal detectors, facial recognition)
Policy Proposals: Students draft tech regulation for school board and city council
Digital Detox Experiments: Go tech-free for a week and journal experiences

4. Critical Thinking & Philosophy

Implementation:

Elementary Philosophy ("Philosophy for Children"):

Ages 5-10: Discuss big questions
- "What is fairness?"
- "Is it okay to lie to protect someone's feelings?"
- "What makes someone a good friend?"
Method: Teacher facilitates, no "right answers," students reason together
Example: Hawaii public schools piloted this (2015) - improved critical thinking, empathy

Middle School Philosophy:

Logic: Identify logical fallacies (ad hominem, straw man, and false dilemma)
Ethics: Trolley problem, utilitarianism vs. deontology
Epistemology: How do we know what's true? (sources of knowledge, skepticism)

High School Philosophy:

Political Philosophy: Rawls (justice as fairness), Nozick (libertarianism), and Marx (class struggle)
Existentialism: Sartre and Camus (meaning, freedom, and responsibility)
Social Justice: Critical race theory, feminist philosophy, and disability justice

Socratic Seminars:

Weekly: Students sit in circle, discuss text (philosophy, literature, and current events)
Teacher Facilitates, Doesn't Lecture: Asks probing questions
Students Learn: To listen, build on others' ideas, and change minds with evidence

5. Media Literacy

Implementation:

Daily Practice:

News Analysis: Start each day analyzing news story
- "Who wrote this? What's their perspective?"
- "What sources did they use?"
- "What's missing from this story?"
Compare sources: Same event, but different outlets (Ex. Fox vs. MSNBC vs. Al Jazeera vs the Times of India)

Algorithm Awareness:

Experiment: Students compare their social media feeds
- Why does everyone see different content?
- How do algorithms create "filter bubbles"?
Watch: "The Social Dilemma" (documentary), discuss manipulation tactics

Advertising Deconstruction:

Analyze Ads: What emotions are they targeting? What's the hidden message?
Create Counter-Ads: Students make ads exposing manipulation
- Example: Fast food ad → counter-ad about health impacts, worker exploitation

Information Warfare:

Russian Interference (2016): How foreign actors spread disinformation on social media
QAnon: How conspiracy theories spread, why people believe
Deep Fakes: Show students AI-generated videos (learning to spot fakes)

Project: Students create media literacy guides for younger students and parents

6. Civic Education & Democracy

Organizing Skills

Curriculum:

Community Organizing 101: Power mapping, coalition-building, and direct action
Learn from Organizers: Invite union organizers and community activists to teach
Case studies: Civil rights movement, labor strikes, and tenant organizing

Student Organizing:

Real Campaigns: Students organize around school issues
- Example: Healthy lunch options, later school start times, ethnic studies courses
Support (Don't Punish): Walkouts and protests are protected (not suspended for activism)

High School Senior Project:

Every Student: Conducts organizing campaign (semester-long)
- Identify issue, research, build coalition, and take action
- Present results to school board, community

Political Analysis

Curriculum:

Power Structures: Who has power? How is it used? Who benefits?
Corporate Influence: Campaign finance, lobbying, and regulatory capture
Grassroots Movements: How people without wealth organize for change

Current Events Analysis:

Weekly Discussions: What's happening in politics, why does it matter?
Multiple Perspectives: Conservative, liberal, socialist, anarchist, and Indigenous analyses
Student Debates: Structured debates on policy issues (healthcare, climate, etc.)

Economic Literacy

Curriculum:

How Capitalism Works: Profit motive, private property, wage labor, and markets
Labor History: Haymarket, Triangle Shirtwaist, Pullman Strike, Coal Wars, Blair Mountain, UAW sit-down strikes, and global solidarity
Cooperative Alternatives: Worker co-ops, credit unions and community land trusts
Wealth Inequality: Why does 1% own 50% of wealth? Is this just?

Personal Finance (But Politicized):

Not Just: "Balance your checkbook, don't buy lattes"
Instead: "Why are wages stagnant while CEO pay explodes?"
- "Why does college cost $100k?" (should be free)
- "Why is healthcare so expensive?" (should be Medicare for All)

Legal Literacy

Curriculum:

Know Your Rights: 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments (speech, search, self-incrimination, and having a lawyer)
Police Encounters: What to do if stopped, arrested (film police, invoke rights, and get a lawyer)
Tenant Rights: Landlord obligations, eviction defense, and organizing
Worker Rights: Minimum wage, overtime, harassment, and unionizing

Mock Trials:

Students Role-Play: Lawyers, witnesses, and jury
Real Cases: Historical civil rights cases and current injustices

Community Legal Advocacy:

Partner with Legal Aid: Students help with intake, research, and community education

7. Geography & Global Understanding

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

2/3 of Americans Can't Find Iraq on a Map (2006 study, during Iraq War)
60% Can't Find North Korea (2017, during nuclear crisis)
Most Can't Locate: Nigeria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iran, Somalia, Palestine, Venezuela, or Syria (countries where the U.S. intervenes)

The Connection:

Geographic Ignorance Enables War: Hard to oppose bombing a place you can't visualize
Racism Reinforced: If Africa is just "a country" in your mind, you dehumanize 1.4 billion people
Climate Crisis: Can't understand rising seas if you don't know where the Maldives are

Goal: Every student graduates knowing:

All continents, oceans, and major countries
Geographic relationships (why Middle East matters for oil, why the Panama Canal matters for trade)
How geography shapes history (why Britain colonized India, why the U.S. wants to control the Caribbean)
Physical geography (climate zones, natural resources, and ecosystems)

Curriculum by Grade Level:

Elementary (K-5):

Kindergarten:

Your Place in the World:
- Home → neighborhood → city → state → country → continent → world
- Globe/map introduction (hands-on, 3D)
- "Where are we?" (locate own city on map)

1st Grade:

Continents and oceans: Names, shapes, and locations
Cultural Diversity: Each continent has many countries, languages, foods
Classroom Map: Interactive (students place photos of themselves by home country/ancestry)

2nd Grade:

Countries: 20-30 major countries (where they are, flags, capitals)
- Focus: Size comparison (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Russia, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Australia, etc.)
Climate Zones: Tropical, temperate, and polar (why they matter)

3rd Grade:

North America Deep Dive: All countries (not just U.S., Canada, Mexico)
- Central America and Caribbean (20+ countries)
- Indigenous nations (overlaid on political map)
Trade/Movement: How goods travel (ships, planes) - geography matters

4th Grade:

Global Geography Project: Each student researches one country
- Location, climate, languages, religions, foods, history, and current issues
- Present to class (poster, presentation)
Natural Resources: Where oil, minerals, water, and forests are (sets up understanding of extraction)

5th Grade:

All Countries: Students should be able to identify 100+ countries on blank map
Colonialism's Geographic Legacy: Why borders look like they do (especially Africa, and the Middle East)
Migration Patterns: Where people move and why (economics, climate, and war)

Middle School (6th- 8th Grade)

6th Grade:

Physical geography deep dive:
- Plate tectonics, mountains, rivers, deserts, and oceans
- How geography shapes human societies
Latin America: Every country (connects to "Empire's Cost" series)
Indigenous Geographies: Pre-colonial maps (what world looked like before European invasion)

7th Grade:

Africa & the Middle East:
- All 54 African countries (shapes, locations, capitals, and major cities)
- 22 Arab countries + Iran, Turkey, and Israel/Palestine
- Colonial borders vs. ethnic/linguistic regions
Resource Extraction Geography: Where oil, diamonds, coltan, and cobalt are (why those places are targeted)

8th Grade:

Asia & Oceania:
- All countries (China, India, Southeast Asia, and Pacific Islands)
- U.S. military bases mapped (100+ in Asia-Pacific)
Global South vs. Global North: Understanding inequality geographically
Climate Geography: Which countries most affected by climate crisis (not those who caused it)

High School (9th -12 Grade)

Master Global Geography:
- Blank Map Test: Identify 150+ countries (passing requirement)
- All continents, major cities, rivers, and mountains
Geopolitics: How geography shapes power
- Why U.S. has bases everywhere (map them)
- Why China building Belt & Road (map it)
- Why Russia invaded Ukraine (geography of pipelines, Black Sea)
Climate Justice Geography: Which countries drowning and which countries are responsible

10th-12th Grade:

AP Human Geography: (Expanded to include critical geography)
Electives: Regional studies (Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Asia)

Assessment

Not Just Memorization:

Map Quizzes: Yes, but also...
Projects: Research countries and present findings
Current Events: Find countries in the news on map and explain why it matters
Virtual Exchanges: Video calls with students in other countries (learn geography through relationships)

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Identify all continents, oceans, and 100+ countries
By 8th Grade: Identify 150+ countries, and major physical features
By 12th Grade: Identify 195+ countries (all UN members), and explain geopolitical relationships

Resources

Every Classroom Should Have:

Physical Globe: (Large, floor-standing, and touchable)
Wall Maps: Political, physical, climate, colonial, and Indigenous (multiple types)
Atlases: One per student (take home)
Digital Maps: Google Earth and interactive (tablets/computers)

Special Resources:

3D Topographic Maps: (Feel mountains and valleys)
Giant Floor Maps: (Walk on them, physically locate countries)
Cultural Artifacts: From each continent (student hands-on learning)

Cost: $500/classroom (one-time) + $50/year (updates)

Teacher Training

Summer Institute: 1 week, travel to region (teachers experience geography)
Geographers as Consultants: Partner with geography departments (universities)
Anti-Racist Geography: How maps have been used as tools of colonialism

Connection to Empire

Students learn:

Why U.S. Invades Where It Does: (Resources and strategic location)
How Colonialism Carved up the World: (Straight-line borders in Africa and Middle East)
Where Refugees Come from: (Countries U.S. destroyed)
Climate Justice: (Global North caused crisis and Global South suffering)

Example Lesson (8th grade):

Question: "Why does the U.S. care so much about the Middle East?"
Answer: Map oil reserves (Persian Gulf = 48% of world's oil)
Connection: Now watch "Cradle of Empire" documentary (understand coups, wars)
Geography Made It Real: Can't abstract "Middle East" - know it's Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE (specific places and specific people)

8. Multicultural Curriculum - "Many Stories, One Humanity"

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

U.S. History Textbooks: 80% white perspectives
Literature Curriculum: Predominantly white, male, and Christian authors
Result: Students see white Christian America as "normal," everyone else as "other"

The Connection:

Cultural Supremacy Enables Empire: If your culture is superior, you can justify "civilizing" others
Othering Enables Violence: If they're fundamentally different, you can bomb them
Erasure Enables Theft: If Indigenous people don't exist (in curriculum), you can deny land theft

Goal: Every student learns:

U.S. is multicultural (always has been)
Every culture has value, knowledge, beauty
White culture is not default (it's one among many)
Cultures shape each other (fusion, exchange, not just conflict)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K - 5th Grade)

Kindergarten:

Classroom Diversity Audit:
- Count: How many books feature Black characters? Indigenous? Latine? Asian? Disabled? LGBTQ+ families?
- Goal: Classroom library should reflect U.S. demographics (not 90% white)
Family Heritage Projects: Every student shares their family's background
- Where ancestors from, languages spoken, foods eaten, and traditions
- Celebrate all cultures (no hierarchy)

1st Grade:

Food as Culture: Where foods come from (tacos = Mexico, but also Indigenous Mesoamerica; pizza = Italy, but influenced by global trade)
Music as Culture: Listen to music from 6 continents (not just Western classical, pop)
Languages Spoken in Class: Chart how many languages represented (celebrate multilingualism)

2nd Grade:

Holidays around the World: Learn about different celebrations
- Not just Christmas (Diwali, Eid, Lunar New Year, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, solstice celebrations, etc.)
- Avoid "tourist curriculum" (not just food/festivals, but values and stories)

3rd Grade:

Indigenous Nations: Local tribes (where you live)
- History: Who lived here before colonization?
- Today: Are they still here? (Yes, most places)
- Visit: Tribal museums, invite elders to speak
African Civilizations: (Before slavery)
- Ancient Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Ife, Benin, Great Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia
- Students learn: Africa had advanced civilizations (pyramids, universities, and trade networks)

4th Grade:

Asian Contributions: (Often erased)
- Chinese inventions: Paper, printing, gunpowder, and the compass
- Islamic Golden Age: Algebra, medicine, astronomy, and universities
- Indian mathematics: Zero, decimal system
Latin American Civilizations: Maya, Aztec, and Inca (mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture)

5th Grade:

Immigration Stories: Every major immigrant group
- Why they came (push/pull factors)
- Challenges faced (discrimination, language barriers)
- Contributions made
Contemporary Cultures: Not just historical (e.g., learn about modern Mexico, not just ancient Aztecs)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

6th Grade:

World Cultures Survey: Each continent in depth
- Africa: 54 countries, thousands of ethnic groups, and 2000+ languages
- Asia: Diverse (East Asia ≠ South Asia ≠ Southeast Asia ≠ Central Asia)
- Avoid pan-ethnic generalizations ("Asian culture" doesn't exist - Chinese ≠ Japanese ≠ Filipino ≠ Indian)

7th Grade:

U.S. Multicultural History:
- Colonial period: Native nations, European colonizers, enslaved Africans, and free Black people
- 19th century: Irish, German, Chinese, and Mexican (under treaty, not immigrants)
- 20th century: Eastern European, Italian, Jewish, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Latinx
- 21st century: Middle Eastern, African, and Central American
Intersectionality: How race, class, gender, and religion intersect

8th Grade:

Cultural Contributions Curriculum:
- Every major U.S. cultural form = multicultural
  - Jazz: African American (with European instruments, African rhythms)
  - Rock & Roll: Black music (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Rosetta Thorpe) whitewashed (Elvis)
  - Hip-hop: Black/Latinx (Bronx, 1970s)
  - American food: Fusion (BBQ = African + Indigenous + European techniques)
- Point: "American culture" is multicultural (no such thing as pure white American culture)

High School (9th -12 Grade)

9th Grade:

World Literature: Authors from every continent
- Africa: Chinua Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Latin America: Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, and Jorge Luis Borges
- Middle East: Naguib Mahfouz, Rumi, and Mahmoud Darwish
- Asia: Rabindranath Tagore, Haruki Murakami, and Arundhati Roy
- Oceania: Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace
Decolonizing Literature: Not just white Western canon

10th Grade:

U.S. Literature - Multicultural:
- Native: Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich, and Joy Harjo (current U.S. Poet Laureate)
- Black: Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, and Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Latinx: Sandra Cisneros, Junot Díaz, and Julia Alvarez
- Asian American: Maxine Hong Kingston, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Ocean Vuong
- Arab American: Naomi Shihab Nye and Laila Lalami
- Requirement: 50% of texts by BIPOC authors

11th-12th Grade:

Ethnic Studies (required): Year-long course
- Black Studies, Indigenous Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latinx Studies (rotate units)
- Critical Race Theory (yes, teach it - it's educational malpractice not to)
Global Religions: Comparative (not just Christianity)
- Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Indigenous spiritualities, and atheism/agnosticism
- Field trips: Visit mosques, temples, gurdwaras, and synagogues

Assessment

Not Tokenism:

Depth over Breadth: Better to study 5 cultures deeply than 50 superficially
Insider Perspectives: Primary sources (not white people writing about others)
Student Voice: Heritage projects (students as experts on their own cultures)

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Can name major contributions of African, Asian, Indigenous, and Latin American civilizations
By 8th Grade: Understands U.S. is multicultural (always has been), can explain immigration waves
By 12th Grade: Has read literature from every inhabited continent and can critically analyze cultural representation

Resources

Books:

Diverse Classroom Libraries: $5,000/school (one-time, build over 5 years)
We Need Diverse Books: Organization (provides lists and resources)

Guest Speakers:

Community Members: From different backgrounds (paid stipends, $200/visit)
Virtual: Authors, activists, and elders (via video)

Field Trips:

Cultural Institutions: Museums, cultural centers, and houses of worship
$50/student/year: (Transportation, admission)

Teacher Training

Critical:

Own Biases: Teachers must examine (most are white, need training to teach multicultural content)
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: (Gloria Ladson-Billings model)
Avoid Stereotypes: Training on respectful representation

Summer institutes:

Immersion: Teachers spend time in diverse communities
Guest Instructors: From communities being taught about (not white "experts" on others)

Connection to Empire

Students Learn:

Indigenous Peoples Exist: (Counters "vanishing Indian" myth, justifies land return)
Cultures the U.S. Destroyed: (Latin America, Middle East, and Asia) - humanizes victims
White Supremacy Is a System: (Not just "bad people," but structure)
Solidarity Is Possible: (Across differences)

Example Lesson (11th grade):

Question: "Why does the U.S. support Israel's occupation of Palestine?"
Multicultural Lens:
- Learn Palestinian culture (food, poetry, and music) - humanize
- Learn Jewish history (persecution, Holocaust) - understand fear
- Learn Christian Zionism (U.S. evangelicals' beliefs)
- Analyze power: Who benefits? (U.S. military-industrial complex, not Palestinians)
Conclusion: Humanizing both sides makes solution clearer (one state, equal rights, and reparations)

9. Language Learning (Including Indigenous Languages & ASL)

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

U.S. is Monolingual: Only 20% of Americans speak second language (vs. 60%+ in Europe)
Indigenous Languages Are Dying: 115 Indigenous languages in U.S. (2018), 20-30 will die this generation
Non-Dominant Languages Are Dying: Half of all languages will go extinct by 2050 if there's no intervention
ASL Is Not Recognized: As language (seen as "disability accommodation," not language)
Linguistic Supremacy: English-only ideology = cultural genocide tool

The Connection:

Language Death = Cultural Death: Lose language, lose worldview, knowledge, and history
Monolingualism = Imperialism: If only English valid, you erase millions of speakers
Deaf Exclusion: If ASL not taught, 11 million Deaf/hard-of-hearing Americans are excluded
Global Ignorance: Can't understand world if you only speak English (miss 90% of humanity)

Goal: Every student learns:

At least two additional languages (fluently, not just basics)
About language diversity (languages exist, and all are valid)
That language is tied to culture, identity, and power
Indigenous languages are living (not just historical)
ASL is a language (not just "signing")

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K - 5th Grade): Early Immersion for Fluency

Kindergarten-2nd Grade:

Dual Language Immersion: Start early (critical period for language acquisition)
- Model: 50% instruction in English, 50% in target language
- Target Languages: Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, French, or local Indigenous language
- Choose Based on: Community demographics, student interest, and teacher availability

Example:

Spanish Immersion: Math and science taught in Spanish; English language arts, and social studies in English
Benefits: By 5th grade, students are bilingual (can read, write, and speak both languages)

ASL (All students, K-5):

30 Minutes/Week: ASL instruction (every student)
- Not "disability accommodation" - everyone learns
- Like learning any language (vocabulary, grammar, culture)
By 5th Grade: Students can hold basic conversation in ASL
Deaf Culture: Taught (history, identity, and pride)

Indigenous Language Revival (where applicable):

Partner with tribes: Co-design curriculum
Language Nests: (Māori model from New Zealand)
- Preschool/K in Indigenous language (total immersion)
- Elders + trained teachers
Example:
- Hawaii: Hawaiian language immersion schools (successful and students fluent)
- Navajo Nation: Diné language immersion
- California: Yurok, Karuk, and others starting programs

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

Continuation:

Students Continue: Language from elementary (deepen fluency)
Or Start a New Language: If didn't have elementary immersion

6th-8th Grade:

Language Classes: Daily (45-60 minutes)
Content Classes in Target Language: (Once proficient enough)
- E.g., 8th grade science taught in Spanish (for Spanish immersion students)

ASL (All students, 6-8):

Continue: 30 minutes/week
By 8th Grade: Conversational fluency
Deaf Guests: Deaf adults visit and students practice

Indigenous Language Elective:

Option: For students in areas with local tribes
Credits: Counts as language requirement

High School (9th - 12 Grade)

Language Requirement (REVISED):

Current: 2 years language (often mediocre, not fluent)
NEW: 4 years (OR prove fluency by exam)

Languages Offered:

Common: Spanish, French, Mandarin, Arabic, and Japanese
Less Common (but Should Be): Portuguese, Hindi, Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo, Zulu, Korean, Russian, and Farsi
Indigenous: Navajo, Cherokee, Dakota, Hawaiian, etc. (in areas with those nations)
ASL: Counts as language (many students will choose this)

AP/IB/Advanced:

For Fluent Students: Advanced literature, culture, and current events in target language

Heritage speakers:

Support for Students: Who speak language at home but can't read/write
- E.g., many Latinx students speak Spanish but weren't taught to write it

Indigenous Language Revival Program

Context:

175 Indigenous Languages Remain: In U.S./Canada (from 300+ pre-colonization)
Endangered: Most have <1,000 speakers, many <100
Urgency: Elders are dying, and languages will die without intervention

Federal Commitment:

Funding: $10 billion/year (10 years = $100 billion)

Compare: This is 1% of defense budget ($886 billion)
Allocate to: Tribes, language programs, teacher training, and materials

Native American Languages Act (EXPANDED):

Original (1990): Weak and underfunded
New Version:
- Funding ($10B/year)
- Federal recognition: Indigenous languages are official languages (of U.S., on tribal lands)
- Protection: Can't prohibit Indigenous languages (in schools, courts, and government)

Program Components

1. Language Nests (0-5 years):

Total Immersion in Preschool: In Indigenous language
Elders + Trained Teachers: Teach children
Success Model: Māori (New Zealand) - brought language back from brink
Goal: 1,000 language nests (across 574 tribes) by 2030

2. Immersion Schools (K-12):

K-8: Taught entirely in Indigenous language
High School: Transition to bilingual (Indigenous language + English)
Curriculum: Culturally relevant (not just translating white curriculum)
Goal: 200 immersion schools by 2030

3. Master-Apprentice Programs:

Pair: Elder (fluent speaker) + youth (learner)
20 Hours/Week: Only speak Indigenous language (total immersion)
Stipends: $30,000/year (elder), $20,000/year (apprentice)
Goal: Create new generation of fluent speakers

4. Teacher Training:

Certification: For Indigenous language teachers (streamlined process)
Language Reclamation Degrees: Universities offer (funded scholarships)
Goal: 1,000 certified teachers by 2030

5. Technology/Documentation:

Apps: Language learning (Duolingo-style, but community-controlled)
Dictionaries: Digital and audio (elders record vocabulary)
Archives: Video/audio recordings (before elders pass)
AI/Speech Recognition: For Indigenous languages (technology shouldn't just serve English)

Governance

Tribe-Led: Each tribe controls their language program (not federal government)
Federal Role: Funding and technical support (not direction)

Success Metrics:

2030: 50% of tribes have functioning language programs
2040: 75% of tribes have new speakers (kids learning in schools)
2050: No language has <1,000 speakers (all stabilized or growing)

ASL (American Sign Language) As Universal Language

The Current Reality

ASL is language: Full grammar, syntax, and culture (not "English with hands")
11 million Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing: In U.S. (many use ASL)
But: Most hearing people don't know ASL (Deaf people excluded)

Why Teach Everyone:

Inclusion: If everyone knows ASL, Deaf people can communicate anywhere
Brain Development: Learning sign language improves spatial reasoning, memory
Useful: Noisy environments, across distances, underwater, and when mouth is full
Babies: Can sign before they can speak (reduces frustration)
It's Beautiful: Expressive and a visual language

ASL Curriculum (K - 12)

K-5:

30 min/week: ASL instruction (all students)
Content: Alphabet, numbers, greetings, basic conversation, Deaf culture

6-8:

30 min/week: Continue (build fluency)
By 8th grade: Can hold conversation, understand Deaf culture

9-12:

Elective: ASL for 4 years (counts as language requirement)
Many Students Will Choose ASL: (instead of Spanish, French, etc.)
Advanced: ASL literature, Deaf history, and interpreting basics

Deaf Teachers:

Priority: Hire Deaf teachers (for ASL classes)
Not Interpreters Teaching: Deaf people teaching (models Deaf pride and culture)

Integration:

Deaf Students: In every school (not segregated in "Deaf schools")
Accommodation: Interpreters (but all students know some ASL, so less needed)
Deaf Culture: Celebrated (not pitied)

Assessment

Fluency-Based:

Not Grades: But proficiency levels (ACTFL scale: Novice → Intermediate → Advanced → Superior)
Goal: By graduation, students at Intermediate level (can hold conversation, read/write)

For Indigenous languages:

Tribes Define: What fluency means (not Western standardized tests)

For ASL:

Video Assessment: (Can't test sign language on paper)
Deaf Evaluators

Resources

Teachers:

Need: 50,000+ bilingual teachers (hire over 5 years)
Salary Premium: $10,000/year (for bilingual teachers)
Recruitment: From target language communities (not just white people who studied abroad)

Materials:

Books: In target languages (classroom libraries)
Software: Language learning apps (Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, etc.) - school licenses
Immersion Materials: Label everything in classroom (in both languages)

Cost:

$5,000/Classroom: (Materials, one-time)
$100/Student/Year: (Software, books, and updates)

Teacher Training

Bilingual Teacher Pipeline:

Scholarships: For bilingual students (to become teachers)
Certification: Streamlined for native speakers (don't need to "prove" fluency)
Methods: Teaching language immersion (specific pedagogy)

ASL teacher training:

Deaf Teachers: Prioritize hiring
Certification: For hearing ASL teachers (but Deaf preferred)

Indigenous Language Teachers:

Elders: Can teach (don't need education degrees)
Apprentice → Teacher: Pipeline (apprentices become teachers)

Connection to Empire

Students Learn:

Language = Power: English-only ideology serves empire (erases others)
Multilingualism = Anti-Imperialism: Speaking oppressed languages is resistance
Indigenous Languages = Land Back: Language revival is decolonization
Global Communication: Can speak to world (not just English speakers)

Example:

Student Learns Arabic: Can read Al Jazeera (not just CNN), gets Arab perspective
Student Learns Spanish: Can talk to Latin American relatives about what "Empire's Cost" documentary reveals
Student Learns ASL: Can communicate with Deaf community, learn Deaf activism history
Student Learns Navajo: Can speak with elders and learn Indigenous knowledge systems (different worldview than Western)

10. Black, Indigenous, Asian American, & Immigration Histories - 'Whose America?'

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

U.S. History Textbooks: Center white people
- Black people appear as slaves, then civil rights (nothing before, little after)
- Indigenous people appear as obstacles (then vanish)
- Asian Americans appear as workers (railroads), then internment (then vanish)
- Latinx people barely appear (despite being here before Anglos)

The Lie:

America = White: Everyone else is immigrant/visitor/problem
Meritocracy: If you work hard, then you'll succeed (ignoring structural racism)

The Truth:

Indigenous People: Were here first (15,000+ years)
Black People: Built this country (unpaid labor, 246 years)
Asian Americans: Built infrastructure (railroads, farms) then excluded
Latinx People: Were here before it was "America" (Southwest was Mexico)
All Immigrants: Built 'America' (not just Ellis Island mythology)

Goal: Students learn:

Full histories (not just slavery and internment)
Structural racism (not just "bad individuals")
Resistance and joy (not just victimhood)
Ongoing struggles (not just past)

Black History - "Kingdoms to Freedom Dreams"

K-5:

NOT Starting with Slavery:

Africa Before: (Ancient civilizations - Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Great Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Ife, Nri, and other Kingdoms/Empires)
Contributions: Mathematics, medicine, architecture, trade networks, and universities (Timbuktu)

Slavery is Taught (but Contextualized):

Middle Passage: Horror (age-appropriate)
Resistance: From day one (rebellions, runaways, poisonings, slowdowns, Marooners, and cultural retention)
Abolitionists: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, John Brown, and others

Post-Slavery:

Reconstruction: Black politicians, schools, and land ownership (brief moment of hope)
Jim Crow: Backlash, violence (KKK, lynching)
Great Migration: North and West (1910-1970, 6 million moved)

Grades 6-8:

Deeper:

Haitian Revolution (1791-1804): First successful slave revolt (created independent Black nation)
Reconstruction Detail: 2,000 Black elected officials (1865-1877), then stolen
Red Summer (1919): White mobs attacked Black communities all over the country, not just the South (250+ killed, many towns destroyed)
Tulsa Massacre (1921): Detailed study and other 'Black Wall Streets'
Harlem Renaissance: Black culture flourished (jazz, literature, and art)
Civil Rights Movement: Not just MLK (also Malcolm X, Black Panthers, SNCC, and local organizers)

Grades 9-12:

Full Complexity:

Black Feminism: Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Ella Baker, Audre Lorde, and Kimberlé Crenshaw (intersectionality)
Black Radicalism: Marcus Garvey, CLR James, Angela Davis, and Fred Hampton (FBI killed him)
Black Capitalism vs. Black Liberation: Debate (Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Du Bois, and modern versions)
Mass Incarceration: New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander)
Black Lives Matter: Current movement (not just history, ongoing)
Afro-Futurism: (Octavia Butler and Janelle Monáe) - Black people imagining futures

Throughout:

Black Joy: Not just suffering (music, dance, food, family, church, style, and innovation)
Black Excellence: Scientists, inventors, artists, athletes, and leaders (in every field)

Indigenous Histories - "We're Still Here"

K-5:

Local Tribes First:

Whose Land? Acknowledge whose traditional territory school sits on (every school)
Still Here: Visit tribal museums, invite elders, learn current tribal governments
Before Colonization: How people lived (sustainable and sophisticated societies)

Colonization:

What happened: Disease (90% died), warfare, land theft, and treaties broken (all 500 of them)
Resistance: King Philip's War, Pontiac's Rebellion, Tecumseh, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Geronimo

Forced Assimilation:

Boarding Schools: "Kill the Indian, save the man" (cultural genocide)
- Children stolen, hair cut, beaten for speaking languages, raped, and many died
- Last One Closed in 1996 (not ancient history)

6-8:

Deeper Dive:

All Major Tribes: Histories (Cherokee, Navajo, Lakota, Apache, Pueblo, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, etc.)
Sovereignty: Tribes are nations (not ethnic groups), have government-to-government relationship with U.S.
Reservations: How they were created (forced relocation), why conditions are poor (underfunding, resource theft)
Activism: AIM (American Indian Movement), Alcatraz occupation (1969), Wounded Knee (1973), and Standing Rock (2016)

9-12:

Full Complexity:

Settler Colonialism: Ongoing (not finished), land back movement
Resource Extraction: Mining, oil, and dams on tribal lands (often without consent)
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW): Epidemic (4,000+ cases)
Cultural Revitalization: Language revival, traditional practices returning
Indigenous Feminism: (Winona LaDuke, LaDonna Harris, and others)
Legal Battles: Water rights, treaty rights, sacred sites (Bears Ears, Oak Flat, etc.)
Indigenous Knowledge: Environmental, medical, and astronomical (not "primitive," sophisticated)

Throughout:

Diversity: 574 federally recognized tribes (each different - languages, cultures, and histories)
We're Still Here: Not past tense, present tense (growing populations, thriving cultures)
Indigenous Futures: Not just preserving past, but creating future

Asian American History - "The Other Builders"

Context:

"Asian American" = 20+ Ethnic Groups: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Cambodian, Hmong, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, etc.
- Don't lump them together (each has a distinct history)

K-5:

Early Immigration:

Chinese: Gold Rush (1849), railroads (1860s) - backbreaking labor and were paid less than whites
Filipino: Farm workers (Mississippi Delta, 1700s, and California, 1900s-1930s)
Japanese: Farmers and fishermen (West Coast, early 1900s)

Exclusion:

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): First law banning immigration by ethnicity
Japanese Internment (1942-1945): 120,000 imprisoned (no trial, lost everything)

Post-WWII:

Model Minority Myth: Created 1960s (to divide non-white communities)

6-8:

Deeper:

Indentured Servitude: After slavery ended, planters brought Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Indian workers (near-slavery conditions)
Asiatic Barred Zone (1917): Banned immigration from most of Asia
Watsonville Riots (1930): White mob attacked Filipino workers
Vincent Chin (1982): Murdered by white autoworkers (blamed Japan for auto industry decline), killers got probation
LA Riots (1992): Korean businesses targeted (Black-Korean tensions exploited by white supremacy)

9-12:

Full complexity:

Coolie Labor: (Racist term, but need to teach - indentured servitude)
Land Laws: Asian immigrants couldn't own property (California Alien Land Law, 1913)
Anti-Miscegenation: Laws banning Asian-white marriage
Southeast Asian Refugees: Vietnam War (boat people, trauma, and resettlement)
South Asian Americans: Post-1965 immigration (doctors, engineers), but also taxi drivers, and convenience store owners (also Bangladeshi Genocide)
East Asian Americans: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (diverse experiences, not monolith)
Pacific Islander Americans: Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, etc. (colonized by U.S., often ignored)
9/11 Backlash: Hate crimes against South Asian, Arab, Muslim Americans (lumped together)
COVID-19 Racism: "China virus" rhetoric → hate crimes spike
Activism: Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Asian American Political Alliance, and Stop AAPI Hate

Throughout:

Model Minority Myth: Debunk (harms Asian Americans, and is used against Black people)
Solidarity: Asian Americans in Black freedom struggle, and Latinx labor movements (also history of tensions)
Diversity: Not all are rich/successful (Southeast Asian refugees and Pacific Islanders face poverty)

Immigration History - "Nation of Immigrants? Which Ones Are Welcomed?"

K-5:

Who Came and Why:

Push Factors: Poverty, war, persecution, and famine
Pull Factors: Jobs, freedom, and family
Waves: Irish (1840s, famine), German (1848, revolution), Eastern European Jews (1880s-1920s, pogroms), Italians (1880s-1920s, poverty), and Mexicans (1900s-present, economic + fleeing U.S.-caused violence)

Ellis Island vs. Angel Island:

Ellis Island (NY): European immigrants (mostly allowed in)
Angel Island (SF): Asian immigrants (interrogated, many were rejected, and detained for months)
Point: Immigration system was racist from start

6-8:

Laws:

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): First race-based ban
Immigration Act of 1924: National origins quotas (favored Western Europeans, excluded Asians, and limited Southern/Eastern Europeans)
Bracero Program (1942-1964): Mexican guest workers (exploited with no path to citizenship)
Immigration Act of 1965: Abolished quotas (opened to Asia, Latin America, Africa)
Current: Who can immigrate? (Family, skills, and refugees - but cap is low, wait times are years/decades)

9-12:

Full Complexity:

Nativism: Recurring (Know-Nothings 1850s, KKK 1920s, Minutemen 2000s)
Racism: Who's considered "white" changed (Irish, Italians, and Jews once weren't white, then were)
Economic: Immigrants blamed for economic problems (but corporations caused them)
Deportation: History (Mexican Repatriation 1930s - 2 million deported, 60% U.S. citizens; Operation Wetback 1954; current deportations)
DREAMers: Undocumented youth (brought as children, American in every way but papers)
Refugees: Process, who qualifies (asylum seekers fleeing violence U.S. caused)
Climate Refugees: Coming (millions will flee climate disasters)

Throughout:

Immigrants Built America: Literally (built buildings, railroads, farms, businesses, and culture)
Immigrant Rights Are Human Rights
"Illegal" Is Dehumanizing: No human being is illegal
Borders Are Recent: Free movement was norm (until 1875, U.S. had open borders)

Assessment

Projects, Not Tests:

Family History: Every student researches own family (immigration story, or if Indigenous, and how colonization affected them)
Oral History: Interview elder (family or community) and record story
Research Project: Choose historical figure from own ethnic background, present
Creative: Write poems, create art, and perform plays (about identity, history, and resistance)

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Can explain own family's history, understands basic immigration waves, and knows about slavery/Jim Crow/boarding schools/internment
By 8th Grade: Can explain structural racism, knows major civil rights movements, and understands intersectionality
By 12th Grade: Can analyze current events through racial justice lens, knows lesser-known histories (not just MLK but Fred Hampton, and not just Cesar Chavez but Dolores Huerta)

Resources

Curriculum:

Zinn Education Project: (Free lesson plans and primary sources)
Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance): Free materials
Smithsonian NMAAHC: (National Museum of African American History & Culture) - lesson plans
National Museum of the American Indian: Resources

Guest speakers:

Community Elders: Pay stipends ($100/visit)
Activists: Current movement leaders (BLM, NDN Collective, and Asian American organizers)

Field Trips:

Tribal Lands: Visit reservations (with permission, as guests)
Museums: Black history, immigration, and Japanese American internment sites
Historic Sites: Civil rights landmarks, Chinatowns, Little Tokyos, and barrios

Teacher Training

Critical:

Most Teachers Are White: Need training to teach histories of people of color (respectfully and accurately)
Anti-Racist Pedagogy: Not "colorblind" (see race, see racism, and address it)
Avoid: White savior narratives (don't center white people in Black/Indigenous/Asian American histories)

Training:

Summer Institutes: 2 weeks of intensive (history + pedagogy)
Guest Instructors: Historians of color, community members
Ongoing: Monthly PD (professional development), book groups, and peer observation

Connection to Empire

Students Learn:

Domestic Racism = Imperial Racism: Same logic (dehumanize, exploit, and dispose)
Black Freedom Struggle = Global: (Panthers allied with Vietnamese, Algerians, Palestinians, and others)
Indigenous Sovereignty = Decolonization: (Same as Latin America, Africa, Asia are fighting colonialism)
Asian American History = U.S. Empire: (Why did Filipinos, Koreans, and Vietnamese come? U.S. wars in their countries)
Immigration = Empire's Blowback: (People flee countries that the U.S. destroyed)

Example lesson (11th Grade):

Question: "Why are there so many Vietnamese Americans in the U.S.?"
Answer:
- U.S. invaded Vietnam (1955-1975)
- Killed 3 million Vietnamese
- When U.S. lost, refugees fled (fearing retaliation)
- 1 million Vietnamese came to U.S. (1975-1990s)
Point: Immigration is consequence of empire (cause and effect)

11. Trans-Inclusive Women's History - "All Women, All Struggles"

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

Women's History = White Women's History: Black women, Indigenous women, Asian women, Latina women, and trans women are often erased
Suffrage Mythology: "Women got the vote in 1920" (only white women–mostly rich white women–could vote safely)
Trans Exclusion: Trans women erased from women's history, or actively excluded
Gender Binary Is Assumed: Two genders presented as natural and universal (it's not)

The Honest History:

**White Feminism Has Always Betrayed Non-white Women
Some Feminists Have Always Excluded Trans Women (TERFs didn't start in 2010s)
Disability, Class, and Sexuality Intersect (not all women face same oppression)
Gender Is Culturally Constructed (many cultures recognize 3+ genders)

Goal: Students learn:

Full women's history (all women, including trans women)
Feminist movements' failures (not just successes)
Gender is a spectrum (not binary)
Intersectionality is essential (race, class, disability, sexuality, and gender identity all matter)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K - 5th Grade)

Kindergarten-2nd Grade:

Gender Diversity Basics:

Some people are boys, some are girls, some are both, and some are neither: All valid
Your Body Doesn't Decide: You decide who you are
Respect Names and Pronouns: If someone tells you their name/pronouns, use them
Books:
- I Am Jazz (Jazz Jennings, trans girl)
- Red: A Crayon's Story (about being yourself)
- Julián Is a Mermaid (boy who loves mermaids, accepted by grandma)
- When Aidan Became a Brother (trans boy becoming big brother)

Historical Figures (Age-Appropriate):

We'wha (Zuni, 1849-1896): Lhamana (third gender in Zuni culture), weaver, and met President Cleveland
Ella Flagg Young (1845-1918): First woman superintendent of major city schools (Chicago)
Dr. Mae Jemison: First Black woman astronaut (connects to STEM)

Key Concept:

People have fought for fairness for a long time: Women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities
We're Still Fighting: Because fairness isn't finished

3rd - 5th Grade

Women's suffrage (Honest Version):

1848: Seneca Falls Convention

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott: Led convention
Declaration of Sentiments: "All men and women are created equal"
BUT: No Black women were invited to speak (Frederick Douglass attended and spoke)

1860s-1870s: Post-Civil War split

15th Amendment (1870): Gave Black men right to vote
White Suffragists (Stanton and Susan B. Anthony): Opposed it (if Black men got vote before white women, they were furious)
- Stanton's Racist Quote: "What will we and our daughters suffer if these degraded black men are allowed to have the rights that would make them even worse than our Saxon fathers?"
Black Suffragists (Sojourner Truth, Frances Harper, and others): Supported 15th Amendment (knew Black women wouldn't get vote anyway if Black men didn't)

Two Paths:

NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association): Stanton/Anthony (white, excluded Black women)
AWSA (American Woman Suffrage Association): More inclusive (but still mostly white)

19th Amendment (1920): Women's suffrage

White Women Celebrated
But: Black women in South still couldn't vote (Jim Crow laws, violence, also things were rough in the North as well)
Native Women: Couldn't vote until 1924 (when citizenship granted)
Asian Women: Couldn't vote until 1952 (when allowed to naturalize)
Full voting Rights: Voting Rights Act of 1965 (for Black women in South)

Key Lesson:

"Women got the vote in 1920" Is a Lie: Only white women got meaningful vote
Intersectionality Matters: Race + gender = different experiences

Other Historical Figures (3rd-5th):

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883):

"Ain't I a Woman?" Speech (1851): Challenged white feminists who said women were too delicate for rights
- Truth: "I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman?"
- Point: White women's experience ≠ all women's experience

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931):

Anti-Lynching Journalist: Documented lynchings (Black men are falsely accused and murdered)
Suffrage March (1913): White organizers asked Black women to march in back (Wells refused, and marched with Illinois delegation)

Zitkála-Šá / Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (1876-1938):

Yankton Dakota Writer, Activist: Fought for Native citizenship and women's rights
Forced Assimilation Survivor: Boarding school (hair cut and beaten for speaking Dakota)

Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Historical Figures:

Albert Cashier (1843-1915): Trans man, fought in Civil War (lived as man for 50+ years)
We'wha (already mentioned)
Many Indigenous Cultures: Had third/fourth genders (Two-Spirit, Mahu, Fa'afafine, etc.)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade) - Fights within the Fight

6th Grade:

First Wave Feminism (1848-1920s):

Goals: Suffrage, property rights, and education access
Achievements: 19th Amendment and women in universities
Failures:
- Racism (excluded Black women)
- Classism (middle and upper class focus, ignored working-class women)
- Ignored sexuality (no LGBTQ+ rights)

Labor Feminism (Often Erased):

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911): 146 workers died (mostly women, girls, and immigrants)
- Locked doors (owners locked them in)
- Led to labor reforms
Bread and Roses Strike (1912): Women textile workers (Lawrence, MA)
- "We want bread, but we want roses too" (living wage + dignity)

7th Grade:

Second Wave Feminism (1960s-1980s):

Achievements:

Equal Pay Act (1963)
Civil Rights Act Title VII (1964): Banned sex discrimination
Roe v. Wade (1973): Abortion rights
Title IX (1972): Education equity (girls' sports, sexual harassment protections)
Rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters

Failures (the honest part):

1. Excluded BIPOC Women:

Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" (1963): Defined feminism as white suburban housewives' boredom
- Ignored: Black women, who had always worked outside home
- Ignored: Working-class women, who had no choice but to work
Mainstream feminism: Focused on corporate careers, "breaking glass ceiling"
- Black/Latina/Asian women: Already working (as maids, in factories), wanted better working conditions, not just corporate jobs

2. Excluded Lesbians:

Betty Friedan: Called lesbians "lavender menace" (threat to feminism's respectability)
- 1970: Lesbian feminists protested (wore "Lavender Menace" shirts)
Eventually: Lesbians forced their way in, but were not welcomed initially

3. Excluded Trans women:

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (1976-2015): "Womyn-born-womyn" only (banned trans women)
Janice Raymond's "The Transsexual Empire" (1979): Transphobic book (claimed trans women are male invaders)
- Influenced policy (HHS under Reagan cited it to deny trans healthcare)
Germaine Greer, Others: TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists)

4. Forced Sterilization:

Eugenics Continued: 1960s-1970s
Black women, Latina women, Indigenous women, disabled women, and poor women: Sterilized without consent
- Puerto Rico (already covered)
- California: 20,000+ sterilized (1909-1979, mostly Chicana women in prisons/institutions)
- North Carolina: 7,600 sterilized (1929-1974, 85% women, are disproportionately Black)
- Indian Health Service: Sterilized 25-50% of Native women (1960s-1970s)
Mainstream Feminism: Silent (focused on abortion rights, ignored forced sterilization)

8th Grade:

Third Wave Feminism (1990s-2010s):

Intersectionality (Finally Centered):

Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989): Coined term "intersectionality"
- Race + gender + class + sexuality + disability = overlapping oppressions
- Can't separate (Black women experience racism AND sexism, not one or the other)

Inclusive Feminism:

Trans Women Included: (By most, not all)
Sex Workers' Rights: Part of feminism (bodily autonomy)
Disability Justice: Part of feminism
Global Feminism: Not just U.S./Europe

Achievements:

Violence Against Women Act (1994)
Workplace Protections: Sexual harassment laws strengthened
More Women in Politics, STEM, and Leadership

Ongoing Failures:

TERFs Still Exist: J.K. Rowling, others (2020s TERF resurgence)
White feminism Is Still Dominant: Corporate feminism (girl bosses), and military feminism (women drone pilots)
Class Is Ignored: Rich women succeed, poor women still struggle

Fourth Wave Feminism (2010s-present):

#MeToo (2017):

Tarana Burke (2006): Black activist created "Me Too" (for survivors, especially Black girls)
2017: Went viral (after Harvey Weinstein allegations)
Achievements: Held powerful men accountable
Limitations: Mostly famous/wealthy white women's stories centered, working-class women were ignored

Trans Rights as a Feminist Issue:

Trans Women Are Women: (Most feminists now agree)
Trans men and Nonbinary People: Part of gender justice
Bathroom Bills and Sports Bans: Attacks on trans people = attacks on all of us (policing bodies, gender)

Reproductive justice (not just choice):

Coined by Black women (1994):
- Not just abortion access (choice to have children, choice not to have, and the choice to parent in safe environment)
- Includes: Ending forced sterilization, poverty, and police violence (all affect ability to parent)

High School (9th -12th Grade)

9th Grade:

Global Feminisms:

Latin America: Ni Una Menos (Not One Less) movement (against femicide)
Middle East: Women's rights in Muslim-majority countries (diverse, not monolithic)
Africa: Women's land rights, FGM abolition, and political leadership
Asia: Comfort women (WWII sex slaves), and '#MeToo' movements

Indigenous Feminisms:

Reproductive Justice: Forced sterilization, sovereignty over bodies
Land Back = Feminist: Women's relationship to land (many Indigenous cultures are matrilineal)
MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women): Feminist and decolonial issue

10th Grade:

Trans Feminism:

Trans Women's History:
- Stonewall (1969): Trans women (Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera) were leaders
- Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR): Trans liberation group (1970s)
- Compton's Cafeteria Riot (1966): Trans women fought police (San Francisco, before Stonewall)

TERF Ideology (Critique):

Biological Essentialism: Claiming womanhood is defined by biology (chromosomes, reproductive organs)
- Problem: Intersex people exist (1.7% of population), chromosomes are more complex than XX/XY, trans women are women
"Gender Critical": TERF rebranding (not critical, just transphobic)
Alliances: TERFs ally with far-right (against trans rights) and betraying feminism

Trans Men and Nonbinary People:

Erasure: Often ignored in gender discussions
Reproductive justice: Trans men can get pregnant (need abortion access and prenatal care)
Nonbinary History: Always existed (Joan of Arc possibly nonbinary, Public Universal Friend 1700s, and many Indigenous cultures)

11th Grade:

Feminism and Capitalism:

Liberal Feminism: Women CEOs and women in boardrooms ("Lean In" feminism)
- Critique: Doesn't help poor women, just rearranges elites
Socialist Feminism: Abolish capitalism (it's root of oppression)
Wages for Housework: 1970s movement (unpaid labor is exploitation)

Feminism and Imperialism:

"White Man's Burden" Feminism: Using women's rights to justify war
- Example: Afghanistan War (2001) justified as "liberating Afghan women"
  - Reality: U.S. bombed Afghan women, killed them, and displaced them
- Example: French ban on hijab (claimed to liberate Muslim women, actually policed their clothing)
Solidarity vs. Saviorism: Support women globally without imperialism

12th Grade:

Disability Justice Feminism:

Ugly Laws (1867-1974): Banned "unsightly" people from public (disabled people couldn't appear in cities)
Sterilization: Disabled women forcibly sterilized (justified as preventing "unfit" reproduction)
Reproductive justice: Disabled women's right to parent (often denied custody, pressured to abort)
Access: Disabled women need accessible healthcare, abortion clinics, and childcare

Sex Work and Feminism:

Debate: Abolition vs. decriminalization
- Abolitionist Feminists: All sex work is exploitation (should be abolished)
- Sex Worker Feminists: Criminalization harms us (we need decriminalization, labor rights)
Students Learn Both Views: (Not told what to think, analyze arguments)

Feminism and Palestine:

Israeli Pinkwashing: "We're feminist/queer-friendly, Palestinians aren't" (used to justify occupation)
Palestinian Feminists: Exist and resist both patriarchy and occupation
Solidarity: Feminist and anti-imperialist

Prison Abolition Feminism:

Prisons Harm Women: Especially Black, Indigenous, Latina, and trans women
Carceral Feminism: Using police/prisons to address violence against women (doesn't work, harms marginalized women)
Transformative Justice: Community-based, not prisons

12. Gender + Society - "It's All Made Up, and That's Okay"

Throughout K-12

Gender Is Socially Constructed:

Different Cultures: Different gender systems
- Western Binary: Man/woman (historically enforced violently)
- Indigenous: Two-Spirit (an umbrella term with many specific terms in each nation)
- Samoa: Fa'afafine (third gender)
- India: Hijra (third gender with a 4,000+ year history)
- Mexico: Muxe (Zapotec third gender)
- Albania: Sworn virgins (people assigned female, and live as men)
Point: Two genders is not universal (it's cultural)

Gender Roles Are Arbitrary:

Pink for is Girls, Blue is for Boys: Reversed in early 1900s (pink was "stronger" color for boys)
Women Can't Do X: Historically, women have done everything (warriors, leaders, scholars, and laborers)
Men Can't Show Emotion: Toxic masculinity (harms everyone)

Gender Expression ≠ Gender Identity:

Expression: How you present (clothes, hair, and mannerisms)
Identity: Who you are inside
Butch Women, Femme Men, Androgynous People: Are all valid

Pronouns Matter:

Practice Using They/Them: (Singular and grammatically correct since 1300s)
Neopronouns: Some people use (xe/xem, ze/zir, etc.) - respect them
Mistakes Happen: Apologize, correct, and move on (don't make it about you)

Assessment

Not Quizzes on Dates:

Critical Thinking: Analyze historical movements (what worked, what failed, why)
Intersectional Analysis: Apply to current events (e.g., analyze a news story through intersectional lens)
Personal Reflection: How does gender affect your life? How would you make society more just?
Creative: Write essay, create art, and make video (about gender justice)

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Knows women's suffrage was not equal for all women, knows trans people exist and should be respected
By 8th Grade: Can explain intersectionality, knows about feminist movement failures, knows gender is spectrum
By 12th Grade: Can critically analyze feminisms (strengths/weaknesses), understands gender as social construct, and can apply intersectional analysis to contemporary issues

13. Disability Justice - "Nothing About Us Without Us"

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

Disability History: Completely Erased: Most students graduate never learning disabled people exist (except as inspiration porn)
Ableism Normalized: Calling things "crazy," "lame," and "dumb" (all ableist slurs), accessibility seen as "special accommodation" (not basic right)
Disability Is Seen As an Individual Tragedy: (Not systemic oppression)

The Honest History:

Disabled People Have Always Existed (15% of population)
Disabled People Have Been: Murdered, Sterilized, Institutionalized, Hidden, Pitied, and Used for Medical Experiments
Even Progressive Movements Have Excluded Disabled People (labor, civil rights, feminist, and LGBTQ+ movements all have ableist histories)
Disabled People Organized: Fought for rights (not just given by abled saviors)

Goal: Students learn:

Disability is natural (part of human diversity)
Ableism is systemic (not just individual prejudice)
Disability justice (not just disability rights)
Accessibility benefits everyone
Disabled people are experts on their own lives

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K - 5th Grade) - "Disability is Natural, Ablism is Not"

Disability Diversity:

Many Kinds: Physical, sensory (Deaf, blind), cognitive, psychiatric, chronic illness, and invisible
Everyone Different: Some people use wheelchairs, some use canes, some are Deaf, some have Down syndrome, some have autism, etc.
Not Tragic: Just different ways of being

Accessibility:

Ramps, Elevators, Captions, and Braille: These help people access world
Not "Special": Everyone benefits (parents with strollers, people with luggage, and people reading in noisy places)

Books:

El Deafo (Cece Bell, graphic novel about being Deaf)
Emmanuel's Dream (Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, Ghanaian disability activist)
Susan Laughs (Jeanne Willis, girl in wheelchair doing everything)
All the Way to the Top (Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, ADAPT activist, climbed Capitol steps)

Language:

Person-First vs. Identity-First:
- Some prefer "person with disability" (person-first)
- Some prefer "disabled person" (identity-first, especially Deaf, autistic communities)
- Rule: Ask (or use both)
Ableist Language: Don't say "that's crazy/lame/dumb/stupid" (ableist slurs)
- Alternatives: "That's wild/absurd/frustrating/nonsensical"

3rd - 5th Grade

Ugly Laws (1867-1974):

What: Laws banning "unsightly" or "diseased" people from appearing in public
Where: Most U.S. cities (Chicago's lasted until 1974!)
Text (Chicago, 1881): "Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, or an improper person to be allowed in or on the streets, highways, thoroughfares, or public places in this city, shall not therein or thereon expose himself to public view"
Effect: Disabled people hidden (institutionalized, kept at home)

Institutionalization:

Asylums, "Homes": Disabled people locked away (often for life)
- Willowbrook State School (NY): 6,000 people, overcrowded, abusive (exposed 1972)
- Pennhurst (PA): Similar conditions
Conditions: Horrific (neglect, abuse, medical experiments, and deaths)
Closed: Most institutions closed 1970s-1990s (after activists fought)

Eugenics and Forced Sterilization:

Buck v. Bell (1927): Supreme Court ruled forced sterilization legal
- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Three generations of imbeciles are enough"
70,000+ People Were Sterilized: In U.S. (1907-1970s), most disabled (also poor, Black, and Indigenous)
Continues: California prisons sterilized 1,400 women (2006-2010), many disabled

Historical Figures (3rd-5th):

Helen Keller (1880-1968):

Usually Taught: Deafblind girl who learned to communicate (inspiration porn)
Actually: Radical socialist, anti-war activist, labor organizer, and fought for disabled workers' rights
- Quote: "I am a militant suffragist because I believe that the fight for full equality is inseparable from the fight for justice to the underprivileged"
- Students learn: Media erased her politics (only talk about her disability, not her activism)

Ed Roberts (1939-1995):

"Father of Independent Living Movement": Paralyzed from polio, used wheelchair and iron lung
UC Berkeley (1962): Fought to attend (university initially rejected him, said he was too disabled)
- Won, graduated, got master's
Founded: First independent living center (1972, Berkeley)
Influenced: Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade) - "Disabilities Fought for Everything"

6th Grade:

Section 504 (1973) & the 504 Sit-In (1977):

Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act, 1973): First federal disability civil rights law
- "No qualified individual with a disability... shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination"
Problem: Not enforced (HEW Secretary Joseph Califano refused to sign regulations)
April 5, 1977: Disabled activists occupied HEW building (San Francisco)
- 25 Days: Longest occupation of federal building in U.S. history
- 150 People: Including wheelchair users, Deaf, blind, people with cerebral palsy, and psychiatric disabilities
- Support: Black Panthers brought food, Butterfly Brigade (lesbian activists) brought supplies
- Victory: Califano signed regulations

ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, later American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today):

Founded 1978: Wade Blank, Rev. Mike Auberger, and others
Direct Action: Blocked buses (that didn't have wheelchair lifts), crawled up Capitol steps, and chained selves to buildings
Victories: Accessible buses and the Americans with Disabilities Act

7th Grade:

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990):

What: Civil rights law (bans discrimination, requires accessibility)
Signed: George H.W. Bush (bipartisan support)
How It Happened: Decades of disabled activists fighting
- Capitol Crawl (March 12, 1990): 60 disabled activists abandoned wheelchairs, crawled up Capitol steps (to show barriers)
- Jennifer Keelan (8 years old): "I'll take all night if I have to!"

What ADA Covers:

Employment (can't discriminate in hiring)
Public accommodations (buildings must be accessible)
Transportation (buses, trains must be accessible)
Telecommunications (phone relay services for Deaf people)

What ADA Doesn't Cover (limitations):

Nothing for housing (accessible housing still rare)
Nothing for education K-12 (that's IDEA, separate law)
Enforcement weak (lawsuits take years, expensive)

8th Grade:

Disability Justice (vs. Disability Rights):

Disability rights:

Focus: Legal equality, inclusion in existing systems
Framework: Civil rights (like racial civil rights movement)
Goal: Access (ramps, jobs, education)

Disability Justice:

Focus: Transformation, not just inclusion
Framework: Intersectional (race + class + gender + sexuality + disability)
Goal: New systems (that don't disable people in first place)
Ten Principles (Sins Invalid):
1. Intersectionality
2. Leadership of most impacted
3. Anti-capitalist politic
4. Cross-movement solidarity
5. Recognizing wholeness
6. Sustainability
7. Commitment to cross-disability solidarity
8. Interdependence
9. Collective access
10. Collective liberation

Founders: Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, Leroy F. Moore Jr., and Stacey Milbern (all disabled BIPOC and LGBTQ+)

Exclusions from Other Movements:

Labor Movement:

Historically: Excluded disabled workers (feared they'd lower wages)
Ugly Laws: Kept disabled people out of public (including workplaces)
Today: Disabled workers paid sub-minimum wage (Section 14(c) of Fair Labor Standards Act allows it)

Civil Rights Movement:

Focus: Racial justice (didn't include disability)
Disability Seen As: Individual medical issue (not civil rights issue)
Today: Disability justice recognizes Black disabled people face both racism and ableism

LGBTQ+ Movement:

Marriage Equality: Huge victory (2015)
BUT: Ignored the guardianship issue
- Guardianship: Disabled people (especially intellectually disabled) often have guardians (parents and others) who control their lives
- Can't Marry: Without guardian's permission (even after Obergefell)
- Can't Have Sex: Legally (if guardian says no, it's considered inability to consent)
- Can't Vote: Many states (if under guardianship)
LGBTQ+ Movement: Didn't fight to end guardianship (excluded disabled queers)
Britney Spears Conservatorship (2021): Brought attention (finally)

Feminist Movement:

Second Wave: Ignored disabled women (assumed all women able-bodied)
Reproductive Rights: Often meant forced sterilization for disabled women
Today: Reproductive justice includes disabled people (the right to parent, the right to refuse sterilization, and the right to accessible healthcare)

High School (9th - 12th Grade) - "Disability Justice = Climate Justice = Racial Justice"

9th Grade:

Medical Model vs. Social Model:

Medical Model:

Disability = Individual Problem: Body/mind is "broken," needs to be "fixed" or "cured"
Solution: Medical intervention, rehabilitation, charity
Problem: Blames disabled person (ignores societal barriers)

Social Model:

Disability = Created by Society: Inaccessible buildings, lack of accommodations, discrimination create disability
Example: Wheelchair user isn't disabled by their body (which works fine with wheelchair), but by stairs (societal failure)
Solution: Change society (ramps, universal design, accommodations, and end discrimination)

Cultural Model (Deaf Culture):

Deaf People: Not disabled (members of linguistic minority)
Deafness: Not deficit (gain - visual language, Deaf community, culture)
Cochlear implants: Controversial (Deaf community sees them as cultural genocide, hearing people see as "cure")

10th Grade:

Intersectionality:

Race + Disability:

Harriet Tubman: Had disability (seizures, narcolepsy, and headaches - from head injury when enslaved)
- Disabled AND Black AND woman AND formerly enslaved (intersecting oppressions)
- Rarely taught as disabled (erased)
Police Violence: Disabled people 1/3 to 1/2 of people killed by police
- George Floyd: Had mental health issues (not widely discussed)
- Elijah McClain: Autistic (police killed him, 2019)
- and Many Others

Gender + Disability:

Disabled Women: Sterilized at higher rates, experience sexual violence at higher rates, and are denied right to parent
Trans Disabled People: Face both transphobia and ableism (healthcare is especially hard)

Class + Disability:

Poverty → Disability: Lack of healthcare, dangerous jobs, and environmental racism (lead poisoning, pollution)
Disability → Poverty: Can't work, lose job, medical bills, and denied benefits
Cycle: Poverty and disability reinforce each other

11th Grade:

Disability and Capitalism:

Productivity: Capitalism values people by productivity (disabled people seen as "burdens")
Eugenics: Logical conclusion of capitalism (eliminate "unproductive" people)
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): Insufficient (max $3,822/month, but most get less)
- Lose benefits if you marry, or if you have assets >$2,000
- Marriage Penalty: Disabled people can't marry without losing benefits (poverty trap)

Disability and Climate:

Climate Disasters: Kill disabled people disproportionately
- Hurricane Katrina (2005): Many who died were disabled, and the elderly (couldn't evacuate)
- Heat Waves: Disabled people with mobility issues can't escape heat
Climate Refugees: Will include disabled people (need accessible shelter and healthcare)
Disability Justice: Demands climate action (our survival depends on it)

12th Grade:

Deinstitutionalization (1970s-1990s):

Victory: Institutions closed
Failure: No community support (just released people, no housing/healthcare/services)
Result: Many disabled people ended up homeless or incarcerated
- 10-25% of Prison Population: Seriously mentally ill
- 50% of People Killed by Police: are Disabled
Lesson: Liberation requires resources (not just "freedom")

Disability and Abolition:

Prison Abolition: Essential for disability justice (prisons harm disabled people)
Police Abolition: Police kill disabled people (especially psychiatric disabilities and autism)
Alternatives: Community care, peer support, and transformative justice

Disability and Palestine:

Israel: Deliberately targets disabled Palestinians (bombs hospitals and prevents medical supply imports)
Disability Used: To justify ableism ("they fake disabilities for sympathy")
Disabled Palestinians: Lead resistance (some wheelchair users, Deaf, and blind)

Mad Pride / Psychiatric Survivor Movement:

Mad: Reclaimed word (psychiatric disabilities and neurodivergence)
Critique: Psychiatric System (forced medication, involuntary commitment, electroshock, and lobotomy)
Alternatives: Peer support, harm reduction, and abolish involuntary commitment

Deaf Culture & Education

Throughout K-12:

Deaf ≠ Disabled (for many Deaf People):

Cultural-Linguistic Minority: ASL is language and Deaf community is culture
Deaf Schools: Where Deaf culture thrives (residential schools historically, and now many are mainstreamed)
Oralism: Forcing Deaf children to speak/lip-read (banned sign language)
- Harmful: Denies language access and traumatizes children
- Still Happens: Many Deaf children don't learn ASL until adulthood
Bilingual-Bicultural Education: Deaf education should include ASL + English

Deaf History:

Martha's Vineyard (1600s-1900s): High Deaf population (genetics) and everyone signed (Deaf and hearing)
- No Disability: Because everyone could communicate
- Point: Disability is socially constructed
Alexander Graham Bell: Hearing, married Deaf woman, and promoted oralism (banned sign language)
- Eugenicist: Wanted to prevent Deaf people from marrying each other (eliminate Deafness)
- Students learn: Bell was bad for Deaf people (despite being "helper")

Assessment

Not Medical Facts:

Critical Thinking: How does society disable people? What would accessible world look like?
Intersectional Analysis: How do disability, race, class, and gender intersect?
Policy analysis: Evaluate ADA, IDEA, and SSDI (strengths/weaknesses)
Creative: Design accessible city, write from disabled perspective, and interview disabled elders

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Knows disability is natural, knows ableist language to avoid, knows disabled people exist and have rights
By 8th Grade: Knows disability history (Ugly Laws, institutionalization, and the ADA), understands social model, knows disability movements fought for rights
By 12th Grade: Can apply disability justice lens, understands intersectionality, and knows current disability issues (guardianship, police violence, and climate)

Resources

Organizations:

HEARD (Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf communities): Deaf in prisons
Sins Invalid: Disability justice performance project
ADAPT: Direct action
National Council on Independent Living
Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN): "Nothing About Us Without Us"

Books/Films:

Crip Camp (2020 documentary, about Camp Jened and 504 Sit-In)
Disability Visibility (Alice Wong, ed.)
Care Work (Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha)

14. Comprehensive Sex Education - "Your Body, Your Choice, Your Pleasure"

Why It Matters

The Current Reality:

37 States: Allow abstinence-only sex ed (proven ineffective and teaches shame)
Many States: Don't require sex ed at all
When Taught: Often medically inaccurate, fear-based, heteronormative, cisnormative, and ableist
- "Sex is for married straight people to make babies" (ignores reality)

Consequences:

U.S. Has the Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate: Among developed nations
STI Rates Are Rising: (Especially among youth)
Sexual Assault: 1 in 5 women, 1 in 16 men (lifetime)
LGBTQ+ Youth: Higher rates of STIs (because sex ed ignores them)
Shame, Ignorance, and Trauma: From lack of education

Goal: Students learn:

Medically Accurate Information (anatomy, reproduction, STIs, and contraception)
Consent (enthusiastic, ongoing, and can be withdrawn)
Pleasure (sex should feel good for everyone involved)
LGBTQ+ Inclusive (all orientations, all genders)
Disability Inclusive (disabled people have sex too)
Boundaries (how to set them, respect them)
Healthy Relationships (vs. abusive)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Kindergarten-2nd Grade:

Correct anatomical terms:

Penis, Vulva, Vagina, and Anus: Use real words (not "private parts," "down there")
Why: Medical accuracy, reduces shame, helps kids report abuse (if they can name body parts)

Consent Basics:

Your Body is Yours: No one can touch you without permission
You Can Say No: To hugs, kisses, and tickling (even from family)
Practice: Ask before hugging friend, respect if they say no
Touch: Good touch (feels good, you want it), bad touch (feels bad, you don't want it), and confusing touch (unclear)
- Tell a Trusted Adult: If bad or confusing touch happens

Bodily Autonomy:

You Decide: What to wear, who touches you, and when to use the bathroom
Adults Should Respect: Your boundaries

Diverse Families:

Many kinds: Two moms, two dads, single parent, grandparents, blended, etc.
All valid

3rd-5th Grade:

Puberty (4th-5th Grade Typically):

What Happens: Body changes (breasts develop, periods start, voice deepens, body hair, etc.)
Everyone Different: Timing varies (some start early, some late, all normal)
Menstruation: Explained (for all students, not just girls)
- How it works, why it happens, how to use pads/tampons
- Free Menstrual Products: Should be in all school bathrooms (not just girls')
Erections and Wet Dreams: Explained (for all students, not just boys)
- Normal bodily functions

Reproduction Basics:

How Babies Are Made: Sperm meets egg (biological facts)
Many Ways: Sex (penis in vagina), but also IVF, surrogacy, and adoption
Not Everyone Wants Babies: That's okay

Online Safety:

Sharing Photos: Don't share naked/sexual photos (illegal if under 18, even of yourself)
Predators: Adults may pretend to be kids online (tell trusted adult if someone makes you uncomfortable)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade) "Bodies, Identities, and Relationships"

6th Grade:

Puberty Deep Dive:

Hormones: How they work
Body Changes: Detailed (acne, sweat, growth spurts, and mood changes)
Hygiene: Deodorant, showering, and menstrual products
Body Image: All bodies are good bodies (media lies about "ideal" bodies)

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity:

Orientation: Who you're attracted to (gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, etc.)
Gender Identity: Who you are (cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, etc.)
Both Spectrums: Not binary
Coming out: If you're LGBTQ+, you decide when/if to tell people (no pressure)

Healthy Relationships:

Friendship, Family, and Romantic: All need respect, communication, and boundaries
Red Flags: Controlling behavior, jealousy, isolation, and violence
Green Flags: Trust, honesty, support, and fun

7th Grade:

Anatomy and Reproduction (detailed):

Vulva, vagina, clitoris, uterus, and ovaries: Female anatomy
- Clitoris: Only organ whose sole purpose is pleasure (has 8,000 nerve endings)
Penis, Testicles, and Prostate: Male anatomy
Intersex: Some people born with anatomy that doesn't fit binary (1.7% of population)
- All valid, not "disorders"

Menstrual Equity:

Period Poverty: Many people can't afford menstrual products
Solution: Free products in all bathrooms (like toilet paper)
Period Stigma: Menstruation is natural, not shameful
- History: Women excluded from activities during periods (because "unclean")
- Today: Still stigma (people hide tampons, whisper about periods)
- Change It: Talk openly, normalize

Masturbation:

What It Is: Touching your own genitals for pleasure
Healthy and Normal: Most people do it, all genders
Private: Do it in private (not in public, not in school)
Myths: Doesn't cause blindness, acne, and hairy palms (old religious lies)

8th Grade:

Consent (Deep Dive):

Enthusiastic: "Yes means yes" (not just absence of "no")
Ongoing: Can change mind at any time (even during sex)
Freely Given: No pressure, coercion, threats, or manipulation
Informed: Knowing what you're agreeing to
Capacity: Sober, conscious (drunk/high/asleep people can't consent)
FRIES Acronym:
- Freely given
- Reversible
- Informed
- Enthusiastic
- Specific

Sexual Assault and Harassment:

What They Are: Non-consensual sexual contact
Not the Victim's Fault: Ever (no matter what they wore, drank, or did)
Support: How to help friend who's been assaulted
Report: Options (police, Title IX coordinator, or a trusted adult)
Statistics: 1 in 5 women, 1 in 16 men (lifetime)

Pornography:

Reality Check: Porn is not sex education
- Performers are actors (not realistic sex)
- Often depicts unsafe practices (no condoms, rough without consent, and unrealistic bodies/stamina)
- Often sexist, racist, and violent
Healthy Sexuality: Communication, consent, and pleasure for all (not like porn)
Addiction: Can become compulsive (talk to trusted adult if you're concerned)

High School (9th - 12th Grade) - "Sexual Health, Pleasure, and Justice"

9th Grade:

Contraception (All Methods):

Condoms: Male, female (how to use, where to get free)
Birth Control Pills: How they work, side effects
IUD: Long-acting, reversible
Implant: Arm implant (Nexplanon)
Shot: Depo-Provera (every 3 months)
Ring, Patch: NuvaRing, Ortho Evra
Emergency Contraception: Plan B (not abortion, prevents pregnancy)
Sterilization: Tubal ligation, vasectomy (permanent)
Abstinence: Also valid choice
Effectiveness Rates: Taught (perfect use vs. typical use)

Where to Get Contraception:

Planned Parenthood: Low-cost, confidential
School-Based Health Centers: Some provide
Pharmacies: Condoms, Plan B (over-the-counter)
Doctor: Prescription methods

STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections):

Common Ones: Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HPV, herpes, and HIV
Symptoms: Often none (asymptomatic), need testing
Testing: Where to get tested (free/low-cost clinics)
Treatment: Most are curable (antibiotics), some are manageable (HIV with meds, and herpes with antivirals)
Prevention: Condoms, dental dams, and vaccines (HPV vaccine, Gardasil)
Stigma: Having STI doesn't make you "dirty" or "slutty" (very common, 1 in 2 sexually active people will get one by age 25)

10th Grade:

LGBTQ+ Sexual Health:

Gay Sex: Anal sex and oral sex (mechanics and safety)
- Lube: Essential for anal sex (anus doesn't self-lubricate)
- Condoms: Always (STIs can be transmitted)
Lesbian Sex: Oral sex, manual sex (fingers), and toys
- Dental Dams: For oral sex (prevent STI transmission)
- Clean Toys: Between partners
Trans Sex: Bottom surgery explained (vaginoplasty, phalloplasty), but many trans people don't get surgery
- Dysphoria: Respect partner's boundaries around body parts
PrEP (pre-Exposure Prophylaxis): HIV prevention (daily pill, very effective)
- Available to anyone at high risk (gay/bi men, sex workers, and people with HIV+ partners)

Pleasure:

Sex Should Feel Good: For everyone involved (not just penis-havers)
Orgasm Gap: Straight women orgasm less than men (studies show)
- Why: Lack of clitoral stimulation (penetration alone doesn't usually cause orgasm for vulva-havers)
- Solution: Communicate, explore, and prioritize everyone's pleasure
Foreplay: Not "before real sex" (it is real sex)
Many Ways: To have sex (not just penis-in-vagina)

Communication:

Talk about: What feels good, what doesn't, boundaries, STI status, and contraception
Awkward: Yes, but necessary (gets easier with practice)

11th Grade:

Abortion:

Medically Accurate: What it is (ending pregnancy)
Methods: Medication (pills, up to 10 weeks), surgical (aspiration, later pregnancies)
Safety: Very safe (safer than childbirth)
Legality: Varies by state (after Dobbs, 2022, no longer federal right)
Reasons: People have abortions (financial, not ready, health, rape/incest, fetal anomalies, or no reason needed)
Not Just Cisgender Women: Trans men and nonbinary people can get pregnant (need abortion access too)
Access: Where to get (Planned Parenthood, abortion clinics)
- Abortion Funds: Help pay (if you can't afford)
- Travel: May need to travel to legal state

Pregnancy and Parenting:

Pregnancy options: Abortion, adoption, and parenting (all valid)
Prenatal Care: Necessary for healthy pregnancy
Childbirth: What happens (medically accurate, not scary)
Postpartum: Depression, body changes, and breastfeeding challenges (common)
Parenting is hard: Not just joyful (realistic expectations)

Reproductive Justice:

Not Just "Choice": (Rich white women have choices, poor women/women of color face barriers)
Right to Have Children: (Not forcibly sterilized, not separated by ICE/foster care)
Right Not to Have Children: (Abortion access, contraception)
Right to Parent: (Safe environment, resources, and respect)

12th Grade:

Sexual Violence (Deep Dive):

Rape Culture: Society that normalizes sexual violence
- Examples: Victim-blaming ("what was she wearing?"), trivializing (rape jokes), and glorifying (how many children did Genghis Khan father)
Consent Violations: Spectrum (from harassment to rape, all serious)
Survivor Support: Believe survivors, connect to resources
Perpetrator Accountability: Most rapists never see consequences (justice system fails)
Transformative Justice: Alternatives to prisons (which don't stop rape, often make it worse)

Sex Work:

Reality: Many reasons people do sex work (money, autonomy, some choose it, and some coerced)
Criminalization: Harms sex workers (can't report violence, arrested, and stigmatized)
Decriminalization: Sex workers advocate for (labor rights, safety)
Trafficking: Different from sex work (coercion, force, and minors)
- Conflation: Often sex work and trafficking conflated (harms both groups)

Kink and BDSM:

What it is: Bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism
Consensual: All parties agree (negotiate beforehand, have safe words)
Not Abuse: If consensual (abuse is non-consensual)
Not Everyone's into It: That's fine, too

Disability and Sex:

Disabled People Have Sex: (Often ignored in sex ed)
Access Needs: May need accommodations (accessible positions, communication aids, and attendant care)
Pleasure: Disabled people deserve pleasure too (not just pity)
Guardianship: Often prevents disabled people from having sex (guardians can legally prohibit it)
- Injustice: Disabled people should have bodily autonomy

Asexuality:

Some People: Don't experience sexual attraction (asexual spectrum)
Valid: Not "broken," not need to be "fixed"
Aromantic: Don't experience romantic attraction (also valid)

Pedagogical Approach

Shame-Free:

No Scare Tactics: (Don't show graphic STI photos to terrify students)
Sex is Good: (When consensual, safe, and pleasurable)
Questions Are Welcomed: Anonymous question box (students submit questions, teacher answers)

Inclusive language:

"People with vulvas" not "women": (Trans men and nonbinary people have vulvas too)
"People with Penises" not "men"
All Orientations: Included in every lesson (not separate "gay sex" unit)

Medically Accurate:

Evidence-Based: Not ideology (abstinence-only doesn't work, comprehensive sex ed does)
Updates: As science evolves (e.g., PrEP is newer, needs to be included)

Student-centered:

Relevant: To students' lives (not just heterosexual married adults)
Practical: How to access services (where to get condoms, STI testing, abortion)

Assessment

Not about Personal Choices:

Don't Ask: "Are you having sex?" "What's your orientation?" (invasive, inappropriate)
Do Ask: "Explain how consent works," "Compare contraceptive methods," "Where would you go for STI testing?"

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Knows correct anatomical terms, understands consent basics, and knows about puberty
By 8th Grade: Understands reproduction, knows about sexual orientation/gender identity, understands healthy relationships, and knows about consent (detailed)
By 12th Grade: Knows all contraceptive methods, STIs, abortion, LGBTQ+ sexual health, can access services, and understands sexual violence/consent deeply

Resources

Curriculum:

Planned Parenthood: Comprehensive sex ed curriculum (free)
SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S.): Guidelines
AMAZE: Videos (animated, youth-friendly, and comprehensive)

Training for Teachers:

2-Week Intensive: (Sex ed is sensitive, teachers need training)
Guest Speakers: Sexual health educators, LGBTQ+ advocates, and abortion providers

15. Basic Visual Art - "Anyone Can Draw"

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

Art Is Cut: From many schools (budget cuts, "back to basics" focus)
Seen As: Extra or a luxury (not essential)
Result: Students don't learn to draw, paint, see visually

Why It Matters:

Visual Literacy: Understanding images (crucial in image-saturated world)
Fine Motor Skills: Drawing develops hand-eye coordination
Spatial Reasoning: Understanding 3D space (helps with math, science, and engineering)
Expression: Art is language (some people express better visually than verbally)
Mental health: Art is therapeutic (stress relief, processing emotions)
Careers: Many careers use visual skills (design, architecture, animation, medicine, and engineering)

Goal: Every student learns:

Basic drawing (lines, shapes, form, shading, and perspective)
Basic color theory
Various media (pencil, paint, and digital)
Art history (diverse point of views, not just white European)
Art criticism (analyze, interpret)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K - 5th Grade) 'Play. Explore. Create.'

Kindergarten-2nd Grade:

Mark-making:

Lines: Straight, curved, zigzag, and dotted
Shapes: Circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and oval
Patterns: Repeat shapes, lines
Textures: Rough, smooth, and bumpy (rubbings, collage)

Color:

Primary Colors: Red, yellow, and blue (can't be made by mixing)
Mixing: Make secondary colors (orange, green, and purple)
Exploration: What happens when you mix colors?

Media:

Crayons, Markers, Colored Pencils, Paint (Tempera), Clay, Collage
Messy Play: Finger painting (important for sensory development, creativity)

Art History:

Many cultures: African masks, Chinese calligraphy, Mexican papel picado, and Indigenous beadwork
Point: Art is universal (every culture makes art)

3rd-5th Grade:

Drawing Fundamentals:

Observation Drawing: Look at object, draw what you see (not what you think you know)
Contour Drawing: Draw outline without looking at paper (trains eye)
Shading: Light, medium, and dark (create dimension)
Perspective basics: Things farther away look smaller (horizon line, vanishing point - simple)

Color Theory:

Color Wheel: Primary, secondary, and tertiary
Warm vs. Cool: Reds/oranges/yellows warm, blues/greens/purples cool
Complementary: Opposite on wheel (red-green, blue-orange, and yellow-purple)
Value: Light to dark (tints and shades)

Media:

Watercolor, Acrylic, Pastels, Collage, Printmaking (Stamps, Stencils), and Digital (iPads/Tablets/Desktops)

Art History:

Ancient Art: Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Mayan, and Chinese
Medieval Art: European, Islamic, and Japanese
Renaissance: Briefly (not just European - also Islamic Golden Age, and the Ming Dynasty)

Middle School (6th -8th Grade) "Technique, Expression, Critique"

6th Grade:

Drawing (Continued):

Proportion: Human figure (head is 1/7 of body, etc.)
Gesture Drawing: Quick sketches (capture movement)
Value Scales: 1 (white) to 10 (black)
Shading Techniques: Hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and blending

Composition:

Rule of Thirds: Divide image into 9 sections (place focal point at intersections)
Balance: Symmetrical and asymmetrical
Emphasis: What draws the eye?

Media:

Charcoal, Ink, Colored Pencils, Digital Drawing (Tablets/Desktops)

7th Grade:

Painting:

Acrylic Painting: Techniques (blending, layering, dry brush, and wet-on-wet)
Color Mixing: Advanced (how to get exact color you want)
Underpainting: Block in values first, add color later

3D Art:

Sculpture: Clay (coil, slab, pinch pots), papier-mâché, and found objects
Ceramics: If kiln is available (throw on wheel, hand-building)

Digital Art:

Photoshop, Procreate, GIMP (free): Introduction
Layers, Brushes, and Selection Tools

8th Grade:

Perspective (deep dive):

One-Point Perspective: Simple (railroad tracks disappearing)
Two-Point Perspective: Buildings (two vanishing points)
Three-Point Perspective: Bird's eye / worm's eye view
Atmospheric Perspective: Things farther away are lighter, less detailed

Printmaking:

Relief Printing: Linocut, woodcut
Screen Printing: T-shirts and paper (simple one and two level prints)

Art Movements:

Renaissance, Baroque, Romanticism, Impressionism, Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Contemporary
Diverse Artists: Not just white men (Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kehinde Wiley, Kara Walker, etc.)

High School (9th -12 Grade) - "Master, Portfolio, Career"

9th Grade (Art I, required):

Fundamentals Review:

Drawing, Color, and Composition: Quick review
Sketchbook: Daily practice (15 min/day)

Anatomy:

Human Figure: Bones, skin, and muscles (basic - helps with drawing people)
Animals: Basic anatomy (horses, dogs, and cats - common subjects)

Landscape:

Trees, Rocks, Water, and Clouds: How to draw/paint
Plein Air: Draw/paint outdoors (weather permitting)

10th-12th Grade (Electives):

Drawing II, III, IV: Advanced drawing (portfolio development) Painting II, III, IV: Advanced painting (oil painting introduced, if available)

Digital Art & Graphic Design:

Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
- Serif/Affinity Suite is also available
Logo Design, Poster Design, and Layout
Career Prep: Graphic design is employable skill

3D Art & Sculpture:

Advanced Ceramics and Sculpture (Wood, Metal, and Stone)

Photography:

Digital Photography: Composition, lighting, and editing (Lightroom, Photoshop)
Film Photography: If darkroom available (analog process)

Animation:

2D Animation: (Frame-by-frame, digital)
3D Animation: (Blender - free software, or Maya)
Stop-Motion: Claymation and puppets

AP Studio Art: Portfolio (24 artworks, concentration)

Decolonized Art History

Not Just:

White European men (Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Picasso)

Also:

African Art: Benin bronzes, Kente cloth, and contemporary art (El Anatsui, Wangechi Mutu)
Asian Art: Chinese scroll painting, Japanese woodblock prints, Indian miniatures, and contemporary (Yayoi Kusama, Ai Weiwei)
Latin American Art: Mayan murals, Mexican muralists (Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco), Frida Kahlo, and contemporary (Doris Salcedo)
Indigenous North American Art: Ledger art, beadwork, totem poles, and contemporary (Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Kent Monkman)
Middle Eastern Art: Islamic calligraphy, Persian miniatures, and contemporary (Shirin Neshat)
Women Artists: (Every culture, every era - often erased from history)
LGBTQ+ Artists: (Many, often erased - Michelangelo was gay, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Catherine Opie, and others)
Disabled Artists: (Frida Kahlo, Chuck Close, Judith Scott, etc.)

Critical Analysis:

Who Gets to Be "Great Artist"? (Power structures, galleries, and museums)
Whose Art Is in Museums? (Mostly white, European, male - theft, and colonialism)
Repatriation: Stolen art should be returned (Benin bronzes, Native artifacts, etc.)

Assessment

Not just "is it pretty":

Technique: Can you shade, mix colors, and use perspective?
Creativity: Original ideas and problem-solving
Effort: Did you try, revise, or improve?
Artist Statement: Can you articulate your choices?
Critique: Can you analyze art (your own, others')?

Portfolio: All students maintain (document growth over years)

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Can draw basic shapes, objects, shade, and mix colors
By 8th Grade: Can draw in perspective, paint, sculpt, use digital tools, and knows basic art history
By 12th Grade: Has developed skill in at least one medium, has portfolio (if interested in art career), and can analyze art critically

Resources

Materials:

$5,000/Classroom/Year: (Paper, paint, clay, and tools)
Digital: Tablets (iPads with Apple Pencil), and computers with Adobe Creative Cloud or equivalent

Teaching Artists:

Local Artists: Visit (paid $200/visit), teach techniques, and share career paths
Museum Trips: 2x/year (all students visit art museums)

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

SEL Often Shallow: "Be kind," "manage emotions" (but doesn't address root causes - patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, and trauma)
Mental Health Crisis: Teen suicide rates rising, and the anxiety/depression epidemic
Toxic Masculinity: Boys taught to suppress emotions, be violent, and dominate
Toxic Femininity: Girls taught to be passive, people-please, and compete with each other
Homo-Suspicion: Boys can't be affectionate with each other (fear of being seen as gay)
Media: Reinforces all of this (toxic gender roles, violence, and consumption as happiness)

The Connection:

Empire Requires Emotional Suppression: Soldiers can't kill if they empathize
Patriarchy Requires Gender Roles: Men dominate, women submit (necessary for capitalism, imperialism)
White Supremacy Requires Emotional Distance: Can't enslave/colonize if you see others as fully human
Capitalism Requires Isolation: Lonely people buy more (consumer culture)

Goal: Students learn:

Emotional intelligence (name, express, and regulate emotions healthily)
Healthy masculinity and femininity (not toxic)
Intimacy without sexuality (affection between boys/men is okay)
Media literacy (recognize manipulation)
Collective care (not just individual resilience)
Trauma-informed approaches (understand how oppression traumatizes)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K - 5th Grade) - "It's Okay to Feel"

Emotions Vocabulary:

Basic Feelings: Happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised, and disgusted
More Nuanced: Frustrated, disappointed, excited, nervous, proud, embarrassed, and jealous
Feelings Wheel: Visual tool (name specific emotions)
Practice: "I feel _____ because _____"

Emotional Regulation:

When Upset: Strategies
- Deep Breathing: Belly breathing (hand on stomach, feel it rise/fall)
- Counting: 1 to 10 slowly
- Movement: Jump, run, and dance (physical release)
- Ask for Help: Tell adult (not weakness, smart strategy)
All Feelings Are Okay: But not all behaviors
- Example: "It's okay to feel angry, but not okay to hit"

Empathy:

How Do Others Feel? Read faces, body language
Perspective-Taking: "How would you feel if...?"
Kindness: Help, share, and include

Friendship:

Good Friends: Listen, share, play together, and resolve conflicts
Conflict Resolution: Use words ("I feel ___ when you ___. Can you please ___?")
Inclusion: Invite lonely kids to play

3rd-5th Grade:

Gender and Emotions:

Toxic Masculinity (age-appropriate):

"Boys Don't Cry": Lie (boys do cry, should cry - it's healthy)
"Man up," "Don't Be a Girl": Harmful (implies girls weak, boys must be tough)
Result: Boys suppress emotions (leads to anger, violence, depression, and suicide later)
Alternative: Healthy masculinity
- Strong AND Emotional: Can cry, ask for help, and show affection
- Gentle Strength: Kindness is strong, empathy is powerful

Toxic Femininity (age-appropriate):

"Nice Girls Don't Get Angry": Lie (girls can and should express anger)
"Be Polite, Don't Make Waves": Teaches girls to accept mistreatment
Result: Girls suppress anger (leads to depression, people-pleasing, and eating disorders)
Alternative: Healthy femininity
- Kind AND Assertive: Can say no, set boundaries, and express anger
- Compete with Yourself: Not with other girls (girl-on-girl competition harms everyone)

Homo-Suspicion:

"That's so Gay": Not okay (using gay as insult is homophobic)
Boys Touching Boys: Normal and healthy (hugs and holding hands - not automatically sexual)
- Many Cultures: Men hold hands as friendship (Middle East, South Asia, and Africa)
- U.S. Homo-Suspicion: Boys afraid to be affectionate (fear being seen as gay)
- Result: Boys isolated, touch-starved (harms mental health)
Girls Touching Girls: Also sometimes policed (assumed lesbian)
Message: Affection is human need (all genders, all orientations)

Media Literacy (intro):

Commercials: Trying to sell you things (make you feel incomplete without product)
Movies/TV: Often show stereotypes (boys tough, girls pretty, etc.)
Question: Is this real, or is this trying to make me feel a certain way?

Middle School (6th -8th Grade) - "Navigating Identities, Peer Pressure, and Media"

6th Grade:

Identity Formation:

Who am I? (Not just what others expect)
- Race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, interests, and values
Multiple Identities: Can hold many at once (intersectionality)
Changing: Identity evolves (who you are at 12 ≠ who you'll be at 20, 30, or 50)

Peer Pressure:

Why it Works: Want to belong and fear of rejection
Types: Direct ("Do it!"), indirect (everyone else does it), self-imposed (assume you should)
Resistance:
- Say No: Practice (role-play)
- Walk Away: Remove yourself from situation
- Find Different Peers: Who respect your choices

Bullying:

What It Is: Repeated, intentional harm (physical, verbal, social, and cyber)
Power Imbalance: Bully has more power (physical, social, and systemic)
Not Just "Mean": Bullying is abuse
Targets: Often marginalized kids (LGBTQ+, disabled, poor, racial minorities, fat, etc.)
Intervention: Bystanders have power (don't laugh, support the target, and tell an adult)
If You're Bullied: Not your fault (tell trusted adult, keep telling until someone listens)

7th Grade:

Toxic Masculinity (deeper):

The Man Box:

Concept: Society's narrow definition of manhood
- Be strong (no weakness)
- Be tough (no crying)
- Be dominant (over women, other men)
- Be heterosexual (no gayness)
- Be violent (solve problems with fists)
- Be sexually aggressive (conquest, "score")
- Don't ask for help (self-sufficient)
Harm:
- To Boys/Men: Depression, suicide (men 3.5x more likely to die by suicide), violence, substance abuse, and shorter lifespans
- To Others: Domestic violence, sexual assault, and mass shootings (almost all perpetrators are men - toxic masculinity connection)

Healthy Masculinity:

Many Ways to Be a Man: Sensitive, strong, artistic, athletic, nerdy, fashionable, and all are valid
Emotions Are Strength: Vulnerability takes courage
Respect: Not dominance (respect women, LGBTQ+ people, and other men)
Consent: Enthusiastic yes (not conquest)
Ask for Help: Smart, not weak
Examples: Terry Crews (actor, speaks about sexual assault), Karamo Brown (Queer Eye), poets, artists, and caretakers

Toxic femininity (deeper):

The Woman Box:

Society's narrow definition:
- Be nice (always, even when someone hurts you)
- Be pretty (appearance is value)
- Be small (don't take up space, physically or socially)
- Be passive (let others lead)
- Be nurturing (caretaker, not leader)
- Be heterosexual (exist for male gaze)
- Compete with women (for male attention)
- Don't be angry (anger is "unladylike")
Harm:
- To Girls/Women: Eating disorders, depression, self-harm, people-pleasing (can't say no), and accept abuse ("stand by your man")
- To Others: Women compete rather than support each other and internalized misogyny

Healthy Femininity:

Many Ways to Be a Woman: Tough, gentle, butch, femme, loud, quiet, and all are valid
Anger Is Valid: Express it (healthily)
Boundaries: Say no (doesn't make you mean)
Support Women: Not competition (sisterhood, solidarity)
Define Yourself: Not defined by relationship to men
Examples: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Serena Williams, Lizzo, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and diverse role models

Nonbinary and Gender-Expansive:

Not Everyone Fits into Boxes: Some people are neither man nor woman, both, and fluid
That's Okay: All genders can be healthy

8th Grade:

Homo-Suspicion (Deep dive):

What it is:

Fear of Being Seen As Gay: Polices behavior (especially for boys/men)
Results:
- Boys don't hug, hold hands, and express affection (except through violence - roughhousing and punching)
- Boys mock anything "feminine" (art, music, dance, emotions)
- Boys call each other "gay" as insult (even if straight)
- Boys afraid to compliment each other, support each other emotionally
- Touch Starvation: Men don't experience platonic touch (intimacy crisis)

Historical context:

19th Century: Men were affectionate (photos of men holding hands, cuddling, and writing love letters - normal)
Early 20th Century: Homosexuality is pathologized (medical, then criminal)
Result: Male intimacy became suspect (if you hug your friend, you must be gay)
Today: Boys policed from young age ("no sissy stuff")

Cross-Cultural:

Many cultures: Men hold hands, kiss cheeks, and hugs (Middle East, India, Latin America, Southern Europe, and Africa)
- Not Sexual: Friendship
U.S./Northern Europe: Homo-suspicion is cultural (not universal)

Harm:

Mental Health: Men isolated, lonely, and depressed (suicide epidemic)
Homophobia: Fear of gayness harms everyone (gay and straight)
Toxic Masculinity: Homo-suspicion enforces it (be tough, don't be gay = connected)

Solution:

Normalize Male Intimacy: Hug your friends (all genders)
Challenge "gay" As an Insult: Call it out (homophobic)
Affection Is Human: Everyone needs touch, emotional connection

Media literacy (detailed):

How Media Shapes Gender:

Movies/TV:
- Men: Action heroes (violent, stoic, and save women)
- Women: Love interests (pretty, passive, need saving), or "strong female character" (just fights like men - masculine-coded strength)
- LGBTQ+: Often invisible, or stereotypes (gay best friend, tragic AIDS victim, and the predatory lesbian)
Advertising:
- For Men: Beer, cars, sports (be tough, get women)
- For Women: Beauty products, weight loss, and cleaning supplies (be pretty, be thin, and serve the family)
- Message: You're incomplete (buy product to fix yourself)
Social Media:
- Curated: People show highlight reel (not real life)
- Comparison: Causes anxiety, depression (everyone else looks happier/prettier/cooler)
- Algorithms: Show you what makes you feel bad (keeps you scrolling)

Critical Viewing:

Who Made This? (Who profits? What's their agenda?)
Who's Included/Excluded? (Whose stories are told? Whose erased?)
What Values Are Promoted? (Consumption, violence, beauty standards, etc.)
How Does This Make Me Feel? (Inadequate, angry, happy, or manipulated?)
Is This Realistic? (Or fantasy?)

Media Creation:

Counter-Narratives: Make your own media (TikTok, YouTube, writing, and art)
Diverse Representation: Include marginalized people (not just straight white able-bodied people)

High School (9th - 12 Grade) - "Collective Liberation & Healing"

9th Grade:

Mental Health (Detailed):

Common Conditions:

Depression: Persistent sadness, loss of interest, hopelessness, and fatigue
Anxiety: Excessive worry, panic attacks, and avoidance
PTSD: After trauma (flashbacks, hypervigilance, and nightmares)
Eating Disorders: Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating (often linked to control and body image)
Substance Abuse: Using drugs/alcohol to cope
Self-Harm: Cutting, burning (to feel control, release pain)
Suicidal Ideation: Thoughts of suicide (if you have them, tell someone immediately - it's a symptom, not a character flaw)

Stigma:

Mental Illness Is Illness: Not weakness, not choice
The Brain Is an Organ: Can get sick (like any body part)
Treatment Works: Therapy, medication, and support

How to Help a Friend:

Listen: Don't try to "fix," just be present
Don't Judge: "That sounds really hard"
Connect to Resources: Therapist, hotline, or a trusted adult
If in Imminent Danger: Tell adult immediately (not breaking trust - saving life)

Resources:

School Counselor: Free, confidential (in school)
Crisis Hotlines: 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ youth)
Therapy: If accessible (insurance, sliding scale clinics)
Peer Support: Groups, online communities (not replacement for professional help, but can supplement)

10th Grade:

Trauma-Informed Approach:

What Is Trauma:

Definition: Overwhelming experience that exceeds ability to cope
Types:
- Acute: Single event (car crash, assault, or a natural disaster)
- Chronic: Repeated (abuse, neglect, war)
- Complex: Multiple traumas over time (childhood abuse, ongoing oppression)
- Historical/intergenerational: Passed down (slavery, genocide, and colonization)

Trauma Responses:

Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn:
- Fight: Aggression, anger
- Flight: Avoidance, running away
- Freeze: Dissociation, numbness
- Fawn: People-pleasing, appeasing (to avoid harm)
Automatic: Not conscious choice (nervous system response)

Oppression As Trauma:

Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Ableism, and Poverty: Traumatizing
Ongoing: Not single event (chronic stress and hypervigilance)
Intergenerational: Inherited (e.g., descendants of enslaved people carry trauma)

Healing:

Therapy: (EMDR, somatic experiencing, CBT, DBT, and others)
Community: Connection, solidarity, mutual aid
Justice: Addressing root causes (not just individual healing)
Self-Care: Not bubble baths (though nice), but setting boundaries, rest, and pleasure

11th Grade:

Masculinity and Violence:

Statistics:

Men commit:
- 90% of homicides
- 98% of mass shootings
- 99% of rapes
- 80% of violent crimes
Men Are Also Victims:
- 78% of murder victims are men
- 75% of suicides are men
Point: Toxic masculinity harms everyone (especially men)

The Pipeline:

Boy Are Taught: Don't cry, be tough, dominate
Can't Express Emotions: (Except anger - socially acceptable for men)
Result: Anger becomes only outlet (violence)
Escalates: Fights, abuse, murder, and mass shootings

School Shooters:

Almost All: Boys/men (less than 10 female school shooters in U.S. history)
Commonalities:
- Misogyny (hatred of women and often targeted girls)
- Violent masculinity (prove manhood through violence)
- Entitlement (believed they deserved respect, women, and success)
- Isolated (no close friendships - homo-suspicion effect)
Not Mental Illness: Most school shooters not mentally ill (planned attacks rationally)
- It's Toxic Masculinity: (Though mental health care still important)

Prevention:

Teach Healthy Masculinity: From early age
Gun Control: (Obvious, but also address culture)
Male Intimacy: Men need close friendships (prevent isolation)
Hold Men Accountable: For misogyny and entitlement

12th Grade:

Collective Care (Not Just Self-Care):

Self-Care Is Not Enough:

Individual Solutions: To systemic problems don't work
- Example: "Do yoga for anxiety" (but if anxiety from poverty, systemic racism, and yoga won't solve it)
Capitalism Sells Self-Care: Buy products and services (face masks and spa days)
- Message: You're responsible for your own wellness (system is off the hook)

Collective Care:

Community Care: Taking care of each other (not just yourself)
- Mutual Aid: Share resources (food, money, housing, rides, and childcare)
- Emotional Support: Check on each other, listen, and show up
- Collective Action: Organize to change systems (not just cope with them)
Interdependence: Not independence (we need each other)
- Disability Justice: Interdependence is strength (abled people pretend to be independent, but rely on hidden labor)

Healing Justice:

Individual Healing + Systemic Change: Both necessary
Can't Heal: In same conditions that traumatized you (need material change)
Examples:
- Therapy + abolish police (if police traumatize you)
- Self-care + living wage (if poverty stresses you)
- Support groups + end deportations (if immigration system harms you)

Abolitionist Approach:

Don't Just Manage: Symptoms (poverty, violence, and addiction)
Abolish: Systems that cause them (capitalism, prisons, borders, etc.)

Connection to Empire

Throughout Curriculum:

Emotional Suppression Enables Empire:

Soldiers: Taught to suppress empathy (can't kill if you see enemy as human)
Police: Taught to suppress fear (respond with violence)
Citizens: Taught to suppress horror (at what their government does)

Gender Roles Enforce Empire:

Men: Soldiers, workers, and dominators (colonize, extract, and control)
Women: Reproducers, caretakers, and supporters (raise next generation of soldiers)
Empire Needs Binary: Clear roles (queer people disrupt this)

Homo-Suspicion Enforces Patriarchy:

Men Isolated: Can't organize against capitalism (divided)
Fear of Gayness: Keeps men from intimacy (easier to control lonely people)
Homophobia: Tool of empire (U.S. exported it globally)

Media Manufactures Consent:

Military Recruitment Ads: Appeal to masculinity (be a man and join the Army)
War Movies: Glorify violence (Top Gun → Navy recruitment spike)
News: Dehumanizes "enemies" (Middle Easterners, Russians, and Chinese)
Advertising: Creates discontent (buy products to fill void capitalism creates)

Assessment

Not Graded on Emotions:

Don't Ask: "Are you well-adjusted?" (Inappropriate and ableist)
Do Assess:
- "Can you name emotions?"
- "Can you practice empathy?"
- "Can you critique media?"

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Can name emotions, use basic regulation strategies, understands toxic gender roles (basic), and practices kindness
By 8th Grade: Understands toxic masculinity/femininity, homo-suspicion, can critique media, and practices healthy relationships
By 12th Grade: Understands trauma, collective care, connections to systemic oppression, and can support mental health (self and others)

17. Queer History - "We've Always Been Here"

Why It Matters

The Current Reality:

LGBTQ+ History: Completely erased from most curricula
Students Learn: Stonewall (maybe), Harvey Milk (maybe), and marriage equality
- That's It: (Out of thousands of years of queer history)
Result: LGBTQ+ youth don't see themselves in history, feel alone, isolated
- Suicide Rates: LGBTQ+ youth 4x more likely to attempt suicide than straight/cis peers

The Honest History:

LGBTQ+ People Have Always Existed: Every culture, every era
Many Cultures Respected: Gender diversity and same-sex relationships (before Western colonization)
Criminalization: Is recent (mostly 1800s-1900s, exported by European colonizers)
LGBTQ+ People Fought for Everything: Labor rights, racial justice, feminism, and disability rights (not just "gay rights")
LGBTQ+ People Are Diverse: Not all white, male, and wealthy (working-class, people of color, trans, disabled queers exist, and led movements)

Goal: Students Learn:

Full LGBTQ+ history (ancient to present)
Diversity within community (race, class, gender, and disability)
Intersectional struggles (not single-issue)
Ongoing fight (not over)
Language, culture, and joy (not just oppression)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K-5): "Families Come in All Forms"

Kindergarten-2nd Grade:

LGBTQ+ families:

Two Moms, Two dads: Some families have same-sex parents
Trans Parents: Some parents are trans
All Families Are Valid: No "better" or "worse" family structure

Books:

And Tango Makes Three (Roy and Silo, two male penguins raising chick)
Heather Has Two Mommies (classic)
I Am Jazz (Jazz Jennings, trans girl)
Julián Is a Mermaid (boy who loves mermaids)
My Rainbow (DeShanna Neal and Trinity Neal, Black girl with two moms)

Pride:

What is Pride? Celebration of LGBTQ+ people (June, commemorates Stonewall)
Flags: Rainbow flag, trans flag, and others (symbols of community)

3rd-5th Grade:

LGBTQ+ people in history (age-appropriate):

Ancient Cultures:

Ancient Greece: Relationships between men were common (Socrates, Achilles and Patroclus, Sappho of Lesbos)
Indigenous Cultures: Many had third/fourth genders (Two-Spirit is umbrella term, each nation has own)
- We'wha (Zuni lhamana, met President Cleveland)

Historical Figures:

Bayard Rustin (1912-1987): Gay Black man, organized March on Washington (1963), key civil rights strategist
- Erased: Because he was gay (homophobia in civil rights movement)
Malcom X: he was bisexual, but that always gets erased
Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992): Black trans woman, Stonewall veteran, activist
Harvey Milk (1930-1978): First openly gay elected official (San Francisco), assassinated

Language:

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer: Definitions (age-appropriate)
It's Okay: If you're LGBTQ+ (or if someone in your family is)
Bullying: Not okay (homophobia and transphobia are wrong)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade) - "Stonewall, Marriage Equality, and Beyond"

6th Grade:

Pre-Stonewall (1950s-1960s):

Oppression:

Illegal: To be gay (sodomy laws in all states)
Illegal: To wear "wrong gender" clothes (arrested if trans/gender-nonconforming)
Bars Were Raided: Police routinely raided gay bars (arrested patrons, outed them, and destroyed lives)
Lavender Scare (1950s): Government fired gay employees (seen as security risks, same time as the Red Scare)
Conversion Therapy: Attempting to "cure" gay people (electroshock, aversion therapy, lobotomies)

Early Organizing:

Mattachine Society (1950): First gay rights organization (Los Angeles)
Daughters of Bilitis (1955): First lesbian organization (San Francisco)
Homophile Movement: Respectability politics (dress conservatively, be "normal," and beg for acceptance)

Stonewall Riots (June 28, 1969):

What happened:

Stonewall Inn: Gay bar, Greenwich Village, NYC
June 28, 1969, 1:20 AM: Police raided (routine)
This Time: Patrons fought back
- Trans Women, Drag Queens, Lesbians, and Gay Men: Threw bottles, bricks, fought police
- Marsha P. Johnson: Allegedly threw first shot glass ("shot glass heard round the world")
- Sylvia Rivera: Trans Latina, fought police
- Stormé DeLarverie: Butch lesbian, punched cop (sparked the riot when she yelled to crowd, "Why don't you guys do something?")
Six Days: Of riots (police tried to clear, crowds returned)

Why it matters:

Turning Point: From respectability to liberation (no more begging and demand rights)
First Pride: One year later (June 28, 1970, Christopher Street Liberation Day)

Who's Erased:

Trans Women of Color: Led by Stonewall (Marsha and Sylvia), but white gay men take credit
Working-Class, Street Youth: Stonewall was for outcasts (not respectable gays)

7th Grade:

Gay Liberation (1970s):

Radical Politics:

Gay Liberation Front (GLF): Formed after Stonewall, anti-capitalist, anti-war, and revolutionary
- Connections: Linked to Black Panthers, women's liberation, and anti-Vietnam War movement
- Quote (GLF manifesto): "We are a revolutionary group of men and women formed with the realization that complete sexual liberation for all people cannot come about unless existing social institutions are abolished."
Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR, 1970): Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson
- STAR House: Shelter for homeless queer youth (trans, sex workers, and runaways)
- Survival: Not just politics, but mutual aid

Harvey Milk (detailed):

San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1977): Elected (first openly gay)
Assassinated (November 27, 1978): By Dan White (fellow supervisor, homophobic)
- White Night Riots (May 21, 1979): After White received light sentence (7 years for two murders), LGBTQ+ community rioted

Anita Bryant (1977):

"Save Our Children" Campaign: Florida, repealed gay rights ordinance
Claimed: Gay people recruit children (homophobic lie, still used today)
Backlash: Inspired gay rights organizing nationwide

8th Grade:

AIDS Crisis (1980s-1990s):

The Plague:

First cases (1981): Gay men in LA, NYC (rare cancer, pneumonia)
Initially Called: GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency)
1982: Renamed AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
Virus Identified (1984): HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)

Government Response:

Ronald Reagan: Didn't say "AIDS" publicly until 1985 (4 years into crisis, 20,000 dead)
Funding: Inadequate (Congress didn't care, seen as "gay disease")
Hatred: Religious leaders (Jerry Falwell) said AIDS was God's punishment for homosexuality
Result: 700,000+ Americans died (1981-2000s, mostly gay/bi men, but also trans women, people who inject drugs, hemophiliacs, and Black/Latino communities)

Community Response:

ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, 1987):

Direct Action: Protests, die-ins, occupations
Slogan: "Silence = Death" (pink triangle, reclaimed from Nazi badge)
Demands: Research funding, affordable treatment, and end discrimination
Actions:
- FDA Action (1988): Seized FDA building (demanded faster drug approval)
- St. Patrick's Cathedral (1989): Disrupted mass (protested Catholic Church's anti-gay, anti-condom stance)
- Ashes Action (1992): Threw ashes of dead loved ones on White House lawn

Quilt:

AIDS Memorial Quilt: Panels for dead loved ones (names, photos, memories)
First Display (1987): National Mall, Washington DC (1,920 panels)
Today: 48,000+ panels (12-ton quilt)

Treatment:

AZT (1987): First drug (expensive with toxic side effects)
Protease Inhibitors (1995): Combination therapy (highly effective)
PrEP (2012): Pre-exposure prophylaxis (daily pill, prevents HIV transmission)
U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable): People with HIV on meds can't transmit (game-changer and stigma reducer)

Who Was Left out:

Women, BIPOC, and trans people: Often excluded from AIDS research, activism (white gay men are centered)
Today: HIV disproportionately affects Black and Latino gay/bi men, and BIPOC trans

High School (9th -12th Grade) - "Liberation, Not Assimilation"

9th Grade:

1990s - Don't Ask, Don't Tell & Defense of Marriage Act:

DADT (1993):

Bill Clinton Compromise: Gay people could serve in military (but had to stay closeted)
If Outed: Discharged (14,000+ service members discharged, 1993-2011)
Repealed (2011): Under Obama

DOMA (1996):

Defense of Marriage Act: Bill Clinton signed
Defined Marriage: As man + woman (federal level)
Section 3: Federal government didn't recognize same-sex marriages (even if state legal)
Ruled Unconstitutional (2013): United States v. Windsor

Marriage Equality movement:

State-by-state:

Massachusetts (2004): First state to legalize same-sex marriage (Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health)
2004-2015: State-by-state battles (some won via courts, some via ballot measures)

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015):

Supreme Court: Legalized same-sex marriage nationwide (June 26, 2015)
Victory: Huge (marriage equality)

Critiques (from the Left):

Assimilationist: Marriage is conservative institution (not radical)
Other Issues Ignored: While focusing on marriage, trans people are being murdered, homeless LGBTQ+ youth are being ignored, and AIDS continued
Homonormativity: Respectability politics (be like straight people, get accepted)
Who Benefited: Mostly white, wealthy gay couples (who wanted tax benefits, inheritance)
Who Didn't: Poor queer people, BIPOC queer people, trans people, polyamorous people, and disabled people (can't get married on SSI)

10th Grade:

Trans history (deeper):

Pre-Stonewall:

Christine Jorgensen (1952): First American widely known for gender confirmation surgery (Denmark)
- Media sensation (trans people became visible, but sensationalized)
Reed Erickson (1917-1992): Trans man, millionaire, and funded trans healthcare research (1960s-1970s)

Post-Stonewall:

Lou Sullivan (1951-1991): Trans man, gay (advocated for recognition that trans men can be gay)
- Died of AIDS (hospitals initially refused treatment, said he couldn't be gay trans man)

1990s-2000s:

Trans Exclusion: From LGB movement (many gay/lesbian organizations excluded trans people)
- Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA): Proposed (1990s-2000s), LGB groups dropped trans protections (to get bill passed - it never passed anyway)
Trans Activists: Fought for inclusion

2010s - Visibility:

Laverne Cox (2014): Time cover, "Transgender Tipping Point"
Caitlyn Jenner (2015): Came out (visibility, but problematic politics)
Bathroom Bills (2016): North Carolina HB2 (trans people banned from bathrooms matching gender)
- Backlash: National outrage, boycotts, and was eventually repealed

2020s - Backlash:

Anti-Trans Legislation: Record numbers (2021-present)
- Sports bans (trans girls banned from girls' sports)
- Healthcare bans (trans youth denied puberty blockers, hormones, surgery)
- Bathroom bills (revived)
- Drag bans (banning drag performances, even adults)
Trans Youth: Under attack (suicide rates rising)
Trans Adults: Also targeted (healthcare restrictions spreading)

Murdered:

BIPOC Trans Women: Murdered at alarming rates (especially Black trans women)
- 2020: 44 trans people murdered (U.S.), 2021: 57, 2022: 38
- Most: Black Trans Women

11th Grade:

Intersectionality in LGBTQ+ Movements:

Race:

Black LGBTQ+ Leaders: Often erased (Bayard Rustin, Marsha P. Johnson, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Barbara Jordan)
White LGBTQ+ Movement: Often racist (prioritized white gay men, and ignored BIPOC queers)
Example: 2008, Black voters were blamed for Prop 8 (California marriage ban) - racist scapegoating (white voters also voted yes, but Black people were blamed)

Class:

Homonormativity: Middle-class gay people wanted acceptance (marriage and military service)
Poor Queers: Wanted housing, healthcare, decriminalization, and survival
Gentrification: Gay neighborhoods (West Village, Castro, and Boystown) became expensive (pushed out poor queers, and BIPOC populations)

Disability:

Disability Erased: From LGBTQ+ history
But: Many LGBTQ+ people are disabled (higher rates of disability - mental health, HIV, and violence-related injuries)
Accessibility: Often ignored (Pride parades and events are often not accessible)

Queer liberation vs. Gay Assimilation:

Assimilation:

Goal: Acceptance into existing society (marriage, military, and corporate jobs)
Strategy: Respectability politics (be like straight people)
Who Benefits: White, wealthy, and cis gay people

Liberation:

Goal: Transform society (abolish marriage, abolish the military, and abolish capitalism)
Strategy: Solidarity with other movements (anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, and disability justice)
Who Benefits: All LGBTQ+ people (especially the marginalized)
Examples: GLF (1970s), Queers for Economic Justice, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and SONG (Southerners On New Ground)

12th Grade:

Global LGBTQ+ Movements:

Colonialism exported homophobia:

Many Pre-Colonial Cultures: Accepted gender diversity and same-sex relationships
- India: Hijra (third gender, 4,000 years)
- Indigenous Americas: Two-Spirit (umbrella term)
- Pacific Islands: Fa'afafine (Samoa), Mahu (Hawaii), and Fakaleiti (Tonga)
- Middle East: Accepted gender diversity (before British colonization)
European colonizers: Imposed anti-sodomy laws, criminalized gender diversity
- British Empire: Spread anti-sodomy laws (still exist in 35+ former colonies)
- Missionaries: Taught homosexuality was sin

Current:

72 Countries: Still criminalize homosexuality
11 Countries: Death penalty for homosexuality (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, Mauritania, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Brunei, UAE, and Qatar)
But: Local LGBTQ+ activists are organizing (despite danger)

International Solidarity:

Global Fight: Connected (U.S. imperialism exports both homophobia and "pinkwashing")
Pinkwashing: Using LGBTQ+ rights to justify imperialism
- Example: Israel claims to be "gay-friendly" (compared to Palestine), justifies occupation
- Reality: Palestinian LGBTQ+ people exist, resist both Israeli occupation and Palestinian homophobia
- the U.S. Also Does This: Claims to be progressive on LGBTQ+ rights (compared to Middle East), but justifies wars

Queer Abolitionism:

LGBTQ+ People and the Police:

Historically: Police were enemy (raided bars, arrested, beat, and killed LGBTQ+ people)
Stonewall: Was riot against police
Today: Some LGBTQ+ people want police protection (hate crime laws)
- But: Police still harm LGBTQ+ people (especially BIPOC trans women)
- Criminalizing Homophobia: Doesn't prevent it (prisons don't work)

Alternatives:

Transformative Justice: Community accountability (not prisons)
Defund the Police: Invest in housing, healthcare, and jobs (actually keep LGBTQ+ people safe)
Abolitionist Organizing: Queers for Economic Justice and Critical Resistance

LGBTQ+ Culture & Joy

Throughout the Curriculum (not just trauma):

Ballroom Culture:

Origins (1920s): Harlem, Black and Latino LGBTQ+ Community
Houses: Chosen families (if rejected by biological families)
Categories: Vogue, runway, and realness (compete, express, and thrive)
Legends: Pepper LaBeija, Willi Ninja, and others
Today: Thriving (Pose TV show brought visibility)

Language:

Slang: Queer community created much of modern slang
- "Read," "shade," "fierce," "werk," "yass," "slay," "tea" (gossip), "wig" (shocked), etc.
- Originated in ballroom and Black/Latino LGBTQ+ culture
- Appropriated by straight people (often without credit)

Art, Music, and Fashion:

Drag: Art form (performance, gender play)
Musicians: Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Melissa Etheridge, Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X, Frank Ocean, Janelle Monáe, and others
Fashion: Queer people have always shaped fashion (Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, and others)

Assessment

Not Asking Students to Out Themselves:

Don't Ask: "Are you LGBTQ+?" (Inappropriate and unsafe)
Do Assess: "Can you explain Stonewall?" "What is homonormativity?" "How do race and sexuality intersect?"

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Knows LGBTQ+ families exist and are valid, knows basic terms, knows some historical figures
By 8th Grade: Knows Stonewall, AIDS crisis, marriage equality, trans history (basic), and understands the ongoing struggles
By 12th Grade: Knows full LGBTQ+ history (ancient to present), intersectionality, critiques of assimilation, global movements, and can connect to other liberation struggles

18. Comprehensive Health Education - "You Body is Yours"

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

Health Ed = Phys Ed + Sex Ed: (If taught at all)
Missing: Nutrition, sleep, substance abuse prevention, mental health, chronic illness, disability, medical racism, and healthcare access

Goal: Students learn:

How body works (all systems, not just reproductive)
Nutrition (real food, not diet culture)
Sleep, exercise, stress management
Substance abuse (harm reduction, not abstinence-only)
Healthcare system (how to navigate, when to seek help)
Medical racism and inequality (why health outcomes differ by race, and class)
Disability and chronic illness (living with and supporting others)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K - 5th Grade)

K-2:

Body basics: Bones, muscles, heart, lungs, brain, and stomach (how they work)
Hygiene: Washing hands, brushing teeth, and bathing (why and how)
Nutrition: Food groups and balance (not dieting - kids need food to grow)
Sleep: Kids need 9-12 hours (importance of sleep)
Exercise: Moving body feels good (play, not forced exercise)

3-5:

Immune System: How body fights illness (germs, vaccines work)
Nutrition (Deeper): Reading food labels, marketing tricks (cereal isn't healthy just because box says so)
Anti-Diet Culture: All bodies are good bodies (no "good" or "bad" foods, and no weighing kids)
Stress: What it is, how to manage (deep breathing, talk to adults, play)
Puberty: (Covered in sex ed section)

Middle School (6th -8th Grade)

6th:

Systems: Digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and nervous (detailed)
Nutrition: Macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)
- the Body Needs All of Them: No villainizing food groups
Disordered eating: Warning signs (skipping meals, obsession with weight, and excessive exercise)
- If Concerned: Tell trusted adult

7th:

Substance Abuse Education (Harm Reduction Model):
- Drugs: Alcohol, nicotine (vaping), marijuana, opioids, stimulants, and others
- Effects: What they do to body/brain (honest, not scare tactics)
- Why People Use: Peer pressure, curiosity, and self-medication (mental health), addiction
- Harm Reduction:
  - Safest: Don't use (especially as teen - brain still developing)
  - If You Use: Reduce harm (don't drive, use with trusted people, know what you're taking, don't mix, and recognize overdose signs)
- Addiction: Disease (not moral failing), treatment exists
- Naloxone (Narcan): Reverses opioid overdose (how to use, where to get)

8th:

Mental Health: (Covered in SEL section)
Sleep: Teens need 8-10 hours (circadian rhythm shifts later in adolescence)
- School Start Times: Should be later (science shows early start harms teens)
Stress Management: Test anxiety, social stress, and family stress (coping strategies)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

9th:

Chronic Illness and Disability:
- Types: Diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, and others
- Management: Medication, lifestyle, and accommodations
- Not Tragic: People with chronic illness/disability live full lives
- Support: How to help friend with chronic illness (believe them, accommodate, and don't minimize)

10th:

Healthcare System:
- Insurance: How it works (premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and in-network/out-of-network)
- Finding Provider: Primary care, specialists, and therapists
- When to Seek Help: Urgent care vs. ER vs. wait for appointment
- Prescriptions: How to fill, cost issues (generic vs. brand, coupons, and assistance programs)
- Teen Rights: Can see doctor confidentially (for sexual health, mental health, and substance abuse - varies by state)

11th:

Medical Racism:
- History:
  - Tuskegee experiment (1932-1972): Black men with syphilis denied treatment (studied)
  - J. Marion Sims: "Father of gynecology" experimented on enslaved Black women (without anesthesia)
  - Henrietta Lacks: Cells taken without consent (HeLa cells, used in research worldwide)
  - Forced sterilization: Black, Indigenous, Latina, and disabled women
- Today:
  - Black Patients: Not believed about pain (undertreated) and maternal mortality 3x higher than white women
  - Indigenous Patients: Die from preventable diseases (underfunded Indian Health Service)
  - Latino Patients: Language barriers and immigration status prevents care
  - Trans Patients: Denied care, misgendered, and discriminated against
  - Disabled Patients: Quality of life undervalued (pressured to refuse treatment)

12th:

Healthcare Access:
- Inequality: Poor people, BIPOC, rural people have worse health outcomes (not because of behavior, but because of access)
- Social Determinants of Health: Housing, food, clean water, safety, education, employment (affect health more than individual choices)
- Medicare for All: Healthcare is human right (not commodity)
Reproductive health: (Covered in sex ed section - abortion, pregnancy, and contraception)
End-of-life care:
- Advance Directives: Living will, healthcare proxy (who makes decisions if you can't)
- Hospice: End-of-life care (comfort, not cure)
- Medical Aid in Dying: (Legal in 11 states - if terminally ill they can choose to end life)
- Disability Perspective: Many disabled people resist "right to die" (because pressured and society sees disabled life as not worth living)

Assessment

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Knows body systems (basic), hygiene, nutrition (no diet culture), and sleep/exercise importance
By 8th Grade: Knows substance abuse facts (harm reduction), mental health basics, and recognizes disordered eating
By 12th Grade: Knows how to navigate healthcare system, understands medical racism, chronic illness/disability, and healthcare inequality

19. Climate History - "They Caused It, We're Paying for It"

Why It Matters

The Current Reality:

Climate Education = Science class: (Just the mechanics - carbon and greenhouse effect)
Missing: History (how we got here), justice (who caused it, who suffers), and solutions (system change, not individual)

The Honest History:

Fossil Fuel Companies Knew: Since at least the 1970s that burning coal/oil/gas would cause climate catastrophe
They Lied: Funded denial and blocked action (for decades)
Global North Caused: 92% of excess CO2 (U.S., Europe, Russia, Japan, China, Canada, and Australia)
Global South Suffering: (Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Pacific Islands - contributed least, harmed most)
This is Genocide: Deliberate (fossil fuel companies chose profit over people)

Goal: Students learn:

Climate Science (what's happening and why)
Climate History (how did we get here - capitalism, colonialism, and racism)
Climate Justice (who caused it, who suffers, and reparations)
Climate Solutions (system change, not individual actions)
Climate Grief (how to cope with existential threat)
Climate Organizing (how to fight back)

Curriculum by Grade Level

Elementary (K -5th) - "The Earth is Changing, But We Can Help"

K-2:

Weather vs. Climate: Weather changes daily, climate is long-term pattern
Earth is Getting Warmer: (Simple explanation - too much CO2 traps heat)
Effects: Ice melting, sea rising, and animals losing their homes
What We Can Do: Reduce, reuse, and recycle (but frame as community action, not individual guilt)

3-5:

Carbon Cycle: How carbon moves (atmosphere, plants, animals, ocean, and fossil fuels)
Greenhouse Effect: CO2, methane trap heat (like blanket around Earth)
Fossil fuels: Coal, oil, gas (when burned, release CO2)
Renewable Energy: Solar, wind, and hydro (don't release CO2)
Why Haven't We Switched? Big companies make money from fossil fuels (don't want to change)

Middle School (6th -8th Grade) - "The Climate Crisis was Created, Not Natural"

6th:

Industrial Revolution (1760-1840): When fossil fuel burning began (coal for steam engines, factories)
Exponential Growth: CO2 emissions exploded (1950s-present, "Great Acceleration")
Tipping Points: If Earth warms >1.5°C, feedback loops (ice melts → less reflection → more warming → more ice melts)
- We're at 1.2°C: (Already above pre-industrial)

7th:

Climate Impacts (Now):
- Heat Waves: Killing people (especially poor, elderly, and outdoor workers)
- Droughts: Crops failing, and famine
- Floods: Homes destroyed, displacement
- Hurricanes: Stronger and wetter (Maria, Katrina, Harvey, and Ian)
- Wildfires: More frequent, larger (California, Australia, Greece, and Canada)
- Sea Level Rise: Islands are disappearing (Tuvalu, Maldives, and the Marshall Islands), and coastal cities are flooding
- Extinction: 1 million species at risk (insects, amphibians, and coral reefs dying)

8th:

Climate Injustice:
- Who Caused It:
  - U.S.: 25% of historical CO2 (4% of world population)
  - Europe: 22%
  - China: 13% (but much of it from making products for U.S./Europe)
  - Richest 10%: Responsible for 50% of emissions
  - Poorest 50%: Responsible for 10% of emissions
- Who Suffers:
  - Global South: Countries that contributed least (Africa, South Asia, Pacific Islands, Central America)
  - Poor People: Can't afford to escape heat, floods, don't have AC, or insurance
  - BIPOC: Environmental racism (polluting factories in their neighborhoods)
  - Indigenous Peoples: Land stolen for oil, mining, and dams

High School (9th -12 Grade) - "Fossil Fuel Companies Knew, Lied, and Killed"

9th Grade

Exxon Knew (1970s):
- 1977: Exxon's own scientists warned them (internal memo: burning fossil fuels will cause catastrophic climate change)
- 1980s: Exxon scientists published papers (predicting accurately what's happening now)
- Late 1980s: Exxon decided to lie
  - Funded climate denial (think tanks, fake scientists, "experts" claiming climate change fake/not caused by humans)
  - Lobbied against climate action (blocked carbon taxes, regulations)
  - Knew they were lying: Internal documents prove it
Other Fossil Fuel companies Also Knew:
- Shell, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Peabody Coal, and others: All knew (1970s-1980s)
- All Lied: Funded denial, blocked action
- Still Lie: "We're part of the solution" (greenwashing)
Total Spent on Climate Denial: $5.6 billion (1986-2018, by fossil fuel industry + allies)

10th Grade:

The Climate Denial Machine:
- Think Tanks: American Enterprise Institute, Heartland Institute, and the Cato Institute (all fossil fuel-funded)
- Fake Experts: Willie Soon and Richard Lindzen (paid by fossil fuel companies and claim climate change not real)
- PR Firms: Hill+Knowlton (tobacco playbook - sow doubt)
- Media: Fox News and right-wing outlets (amplify denial)
- Politicians: Bought (fossil fuel donations to Republicans and some Democrats - Manchin)
Tobacco Playbook:
- 1950s: Tobacco companies knew smoking caused cancer
- Lied: For decades (funded denial, "more research needed")
- Same PR Firms: Hired by fossil fuel companies (same tactics)

11th Grade:

Colonialism and Climate:
- Extraction: Europe/U.S. extracted resources from colonies (timber, coal, oil)
- Wealth Flowed: the North (profits) while the South is left with pollution and deforestation
- Carbon Colonialism: Global North outsources emissions (manufacturing to China, India)
- Climate Debt: Global North owes Global South (for causing crisis)
Carbon Emissions by Country (Historical, 1850-2021):
1. United States: 509 Gt CO2 (25%)
2. China: 284 Gt (14%)
3. Russia: 172 Gt (8%)
4. Germany: 90 Gt (4%)
5. UK: 78 Gt (4%)
- Entire Continent of Africa: 43 Gt (2%)
Per Capita Emissions (Current):
- U.S.: 14.9 tons CO2/person/year
- China: 8.0 tons
- World Average: 4.7 tons
- India: 2.0 tons
- Nigeria: 0.6 tons
- Point: Americans emit 25x more than Nigerians

12th Grade:

Climate Apartheid:
- UN Report (2019): Climate change will create "climate apartheid"
  - Rich people buy way out (AC, seawalls, and move to safe areas)
  - Poor people die (heat, hunger, disease, violence, and displacement)
- Already happening: Hurricane Maria (rich left Puerto Rico, and the poor stayed and died)
Climate Refugees:
- Estimates: 200 million-1 billion by 2050 (fleeing floods, droughts, heat)
- Will Include: Bangladeshis (sea level rise), Central Americans (drought, hurricanes), Africans (Sahel drought, Lake Chad drying), and Pacific Islanders (islands disappearing)
- U.S. Response: Close borders (let them die)
- Justice Response: Open borders and reparations (we caused the crisis they're fleeing)
Climate Reparations:
- Loss and Damage: Global South demands compensation (for climate impacts)
- COP27 (2022): "Loss and damage" fund created (but underfunded, rich countries stalling)
- Amount Owed: $100 billion/year minimum (but U.S./Europe refuse to pay)

Climate solutions (system change, not individual):

What Doesn't Work:

Individual Actions: Recycling, shorter showers, and reusable bags (helpful, but won't solve crisis)
- 100 Companies: Responsible for 71% of emissions (not individuals)
Carbon Offsets: Scam (companies "plant trees" to offset emissions, but keep polluting)
Green Capitalism: "Buy eco-friendly products" (consumption is the problem, not solution)

What Does Work:

End Fossil Fuels: Immediately
- Keep All Oil/Gas in the Ground: (80% of reserves must stay unburned to limit warming to 1.5°C)
- Renewable Energy: Solar and wind (technology exists, need political will)
- Public Transit: Replace cars (electric cars still require mining, roads, and sprawl)
Degrowth: Shrink economy (rich countries consume too much)
- Not Austerity: (Austerity harms the poor)
- Reduce Consumption: Of rich (billionaires and corporations)
Climate Reparations: Global North pays Global South ($100 billion/year, minimum)
End Capitalism: (Growth imperative requires endless consumption and extraction)
Indigenous Sovereignty: Indigenous people protect 80% of Earth's biodiversity (despite being 5% of population)
- Land Back: Return land to Indigenous control (best climate solution)

Climate Organizing

Youth Movements:

Greta Thunberg (2018): School strikes for climate (Fridays for Future)
Sunrise Movement (2017): Youth-led, Green New Deal
Extinction Rebellion (2018): Direct action (block roads, bridges)
Indigenous Climate Leaders: Autumn Peltier (water protector) and Txai Suruí (Amazon defender)

Direct Action:

Standing Rock (2016): Water protectors blocked Dakota Access Pipeline (militarized police response, but the pipeline built anyway - but inspired global movement)
Ende Gelände (Germany): Block coal mines
Fairy Creek (Canada): Block logging

Political:

Green New Deal: Proposed (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey in 2019)
- Jobs: Green jobs, public transit, and renewable energy
- Justice: Environmental justice with a just transition (support fossil fuel workers to transition)
- Not Passed: (Fossil fuel money blocks it)

Climate Grief

It's real:

Existential Dread: Knowing the Earth is dying (overwhelming)
Eco-Anxiety: Common (especially young people - "what future do I have?")
Grief: For species extinct, forests burned, and coral reefs dead

Coping:

Community: Connect with others (organize and mutual aid)
Action: Fight back (reduces helplessness)
Therapy: If needed (eco-anxiety is real, valid)
Joy: Still live (love, create, and laugh - not despite crisis, but because of it)

Rebecca Solnit Quote: "Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency."

Assessment

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Knows Earth is warming, fossil fuels cause it, and that renewable energy exists
By 8th Grade: Knows climate impacts, who caused crisis vs. who suffers, and why companies block action
By 12th Grade: Knows full history (Exxon knew, lied), colonialism connection, climate justice, solutions (system change), and can organize

20. Creative Writing, Theater, Music, & Dance - "Art is Resistance"

Why It Matters

Current Reality:

The Arts Are Cut: From many schools (seen as luxury, not essential)
Test Scores Prioritized: STEM (STEAM is better, but still not enough arts)

Why The Arts Matter:

Expression: Some people think in stories, music, and movement (not just words and numbers)
Empathy: Art teaches perspective-taking (walk in someone else's shoes)
Healing: Trauma processed through art, music, and dance
Resistance: Art challenges power (protest songs, revolutionary theater, and radical writing)
Jobs: Creative industries employ millions (writing, music, theater, dance, film, and games)
Joy: Art brings pleasure (humans need beauty, play, and creativity)

Goal: Every student learns:

Creative Writing (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and playwriting)
Music (performance, composition, history, and diverse genres)
Theater (acting, directing, stagecraft, and playwriting)
Dance (movement, choreography, and diverse traditions)
All Intersect: With social justice (art as a tool for change)

Creative Writing

Elementary (K-5th Grade)

K-2nd Grade:

Storytelling: Oral stories (before writing)
Imagination: "What if...?" prompts
Picture Books: Students write and illustrate
Poetry: Simple (acrostic, cinquain, and haiku)

3-5th Grade:

Short Stories: Beginning, middle, and end
Characters: Develop (appearance, personality, goals)
Setting: Where/when story takes place
Dialogue: Characters talking (use quotation marks)
Revision: First draft is not final (editing is part of writing)

Middle School (6th - 8th)

6th Grade:

Genres: Fiction (realistic, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and historical), nonfiction (memoir, essay, and journalism), and poetry
Point of View: First person (I), third person (he/she), second person (you - rare)
Show, Don't Tell: "She was angry" (tell) vs. "She slammed the door" (show)

7th Grade:

Plot Structure: Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution
Conflict: Character vs. character, self, society, and nature
Theme: What's story about (beyond plot - love, justice, identity, and power)

8th:

Voice: Author's unique style (word choice, sentence structure, and tone)
Symbolism: Objects/actions represent larger ideas
Peer Workshop: Read each other's work and give feedback (kind, specific, and helpful)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

9th-10th Grade:

Literary Analysis Writing: Analyze texts (themes, symbolism, and author's choices)
Personal Narrative: Memoir and essay
Argumentative Writing: Persuasion (claim, evidence, and reasoning)

11th-12th (Creative Writing elective):

Fiction Workshop: Short stories and novels (first chapters)
Poetry Workshop: Free verse and form (sonnets, villanelles, and pantoums)
Creative Nonfiction: Memoir, personal essay, and lyric essay
Playwriting: One-act plays (performed at end of year)
Publication: School literary magazine, contests, and online platforms

Diverse Voices:

Read: Writers from all backgrounds (race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, and nationality)
Avoid: Only white male canon (diversify the reading lists)

Music

Elementary (K - 5th Grade)

K-2nd Grade:

Singing: Simple songs (folk songs, multicultural)
Rhythm: Clapping, drums, and shakers
Movement: Dancing to music
Instruments: Xylophones, recorders (basic)

3rd-5th Grade:

Recorder: (Common first instrument)
Music Notation: Reading (treble clef, notes, and rhythms)
Composers: Diverse (Bach, but also Beethoven was deaf, Florence Price was a Black woman, etc.)
Genres: Classical, jazz, blues, hip-hop, folk, and world music

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

6th-8th:

Band, Choir, and Orchestra: (Choose one, 3x/week)
- Band: Brass, woodwinds, and percussion
- Choir: Singing (SATB - soprano, alto, tenor, and bass)
- Orchestra: Strings (violin, viola, cello, and bass)
Music Theory: Scales, chords, and key signatures
Composition: Write simple melodies
Performances: Concerts (2-3/year)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

9th-12th (Music Elective or Required Arts Credit):

Advanced Band, Choir, or Orchestra: Continued (for those who want)
Music Production: (Digital) - GarageBand, Ableton, and FL Studio
- Beats: Create (hip-hop, electronic)
- Recording: Vocals, instruments
- Mixing: Levels, EQ, effects
Songwriting: Lyrics + melody
Music History: (Decolonized)
- Not Just Western Classical: Also blues (African American), jazz (African American), hip-hop (Black/Latino), reggae (Jamaican), samba (Brazilian), flamenco (Spanish/Romani), Indian classical, Chinese opera, etc.
Music and Social Justice:
- Protest Songs: "We Shall Overcome" (civil rights), "Bella Ciao" (Italian resistance), "El Pueblo Unido" (Chile), and "Alright" (Kendrick Lamar, BLM)
- Banned Music: Nazi Germany banned jazz (Black music) and Pinochet banned nueva canción (folk protest music)

Theater

Elementary (K - 5th Grade)

K-2:

Dramatic Play: Pretend, dress-up, and puppets
Storytelling: Act out stories (fairy tales, folktales)
Movement: Pantomime, freeze frames

3-5:

Readers Theater: Read scripts aloud (no memorization, minimal staging)
Improvisation: Create scenes on the spot
Simple Plays: Class performs (short, 10-15 minutes)

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

6th-8th:

Acting: Character development, voice, and movement
Stagecraft: Sets, lighting, costumes, and props
Directing: Blocking (where actors move)
Playwriting: Short scenes, one-acts
Productions: 1-2 plays/year (students perform)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

9th-12th (Theater Elective):

Acting: Method acting, Meisner, and Stanislavski techniques
Playwriting: Full-length plays
Directing: Direct scenes, one-acts
Technical Theater: Lights, sound, and sets (design and execution)
Productions: 2-3 shows/year (fall play, winter musical, and spring play)
Theater History: (Diverse)
- Greek Theater: Tragedy, comedy (but recognize Ancient Greece was also site of slavery, misogyny)
- Commedia dell'Arte: Italian
- Shakespeare: English (but also acknowledge colonialism in The Tempest, racism in Othello)
- Noh and Kabuki: Japanese
- Chinese Opera: Beijing opera, Kunqu
- African Diasporic: Black theater in U.S. (August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, and Suzan-Lori Parks)
- Latin American: Teatro Campesino (Chicano farmworkers' theater)
- Queer Theater: Angels in America, Fun Home
Theater as Activism:
- Theater of the Oppressed: Augusto Boal (Brazilian, participatory theater)
- Agitprop: Political theater (short, direct, and in the streets)
- Documentary Theater: Based on real events (The Laramie Project, Fires in the Mirror)

Dance

Elementary (K - 5th Grade)

K-2:

Creative Movement: Explore the body in space
Freeze Dance, Musical statues: Games
Cultural Dances: Simple (Mexican folklórico, Irish step dance, West African, etc.)

3-5:

Basic Technique: Ballet (not as only/best, but as one tradition)
Choreography: Simple (small groups create short dances)
Improvisation: Move to music freely

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

6th-8th (Dance Elective or in PE):

Multiple Styles: Ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop, and cultural
Technique: Alignment, coordination, strength, and flexibility
Choreography: Groups create dances (3-5 minutes)
Performances: Showcase (end of year)

High School (9th - 12th Grade)

9th-12th Grade (Dance Elective):

Advanced Technique: Ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, and cultural
Choreography: Solos, duets, and groups (students choreograph)
Dance Composition: Structure, musicality, and theme
Improvisation: Structured (contact improvisation, etc.)
Dance History: (Decolonized)
- Not Just European Ballet: Also:
  - African Diasporic: Tap (African + Irish), Jazz (African American), Hip-Hop (Black/Latino), Capoeira (Afro-Brazilian), and Samba (Brazilian)
  - Asian: Bharatanatyam (Indian), Kathak (Indian), Chinese dance, and Butoh (Japanese)
  - Latin American: Tango (Argentine), salsa (Cuban/Puerto Rican), and folklórico (Mexican)
  - Indigenous: Many traditions (powwow, hoop dance, haka - Māori, and others)
  - Middle Eastern: Belly dance, dabke (Levantine line dance)
Dance and Social Justice:
- Choreographers: Alvin Ailey (Black choreographer, Revelations), Bill T. Jones (Black gay choreographer, AIDS), Liz Lerman (intergenerational), and Heidi Latsky (disabled dancers)
- Flash Mobs: Protests (ACTUP die-ins were early flash mobs)
- Dance as Medicine: Healing from trauma (somatic practice)

Assessment

Not Graded on Talent:

Effort, Growth, Creativity, and Collaboration: These matter
Not: "Are you naturally gifted?" (Problematic and discourages students)

Benchmark:

By 5th Grade: Has written stories/poems, sung/played music, acted in play, and danced
By 8th Grade: Has developed skills in at least one art form and performed/shared work publicly
By 12th Grade: Has a portfolio (writing samples, recordings, and performances), can analyze art critically, and understands art as a social justice tool

21. Shop Class: Carpentry, Welding, & Non-European Techniques

Why it Matters

The Current Reality:

Shop Class is Cut: From many schools (college-prep focus, "everyone should go to college")
Class Bias: Trades seen as "lesser" (white-collar > blue-collar)
Result: Shortage of skilled tradespeople and young people graduate not knowing how to fix anything

Why the Trades Matter:

Good Jobs: Plumbers, electricians, welders, and carpenters make $50-100k/year (often more than college grads)
No Debt: Trade school is shorter and cheaper than college (often with paid apprenticeships)
Essential: Society needs tradespeople (buildings, infrastructure, and repairs)
Empowerment: Knowing how to build and fix things (not dependent on others)
Sustainability: Repair culture (not throwaway culture)

Goal: Every student learns:

Carpentry (woodworking, furniture, and framing)
Welding (metalworking)
Electrical (basic wiring)
Plumbing (basic)
Auto Mechanics (basic)
Non-European Techniques (bamboo construction, adobe, basket weaving, and others)
Repair (fix things, not replace)

Curriculum

Middle School (6th - 8th Grade)

6th Grade - Basic Tool Use:

Hand Tools: Hammer, saw, screwdriver, wrench, pliers, level, and tape measure
Safety: Eye protection, no loose clothing, and focus
Simple Projects: a Birdhouse, a cutting board, and a toolbox

7th Grade - Woodworking:

Power Tools: Drill, sander, and a circular saw (supervised)
Joinery: Nails, screws, wood glue, butt joints, and pocket holes
Projects: Shelves (maybe book shelves), a stool, and a small table

8th Grade - Intro to the Trades:

Carpentry: Framing basics (studs, joists, and rafters)
Welding: (If school has equipment) MIG welding basics and safety
Electrical: Basic circuits (how electricity works, wire a lamp)
Plumbing: Pipe types (PVC, copper), basic connections

High School (9th - 12 Grade)

9th Grade - Construction:

Carpentry II: Advanced joinery (mortise and tenon, dovetails, and dados)
Framing: Build small structure (shed, tiny house)
Roofing: Shingles, flashing
Siding: Install (wood, vinyl)

10th Grade - Metalworking:

Welding II: TIG, stick, and oxy-acetylene (if equipment available)
Fabrication: Design and build (metal table, sculpture, and a bike rack)
Machining: (If equipment available) Lathe and mill

11th Grade - Systems:

Electrical II: Wiring house (outlets, switches, and breaker panel)
- Code: Learn National Electrical Code (safety standards)
Plumbing II: Rough-in, finish (install sink, toilet, and shower)
HVAC: Basics (how heating/cooling systems work)

12th Grade - Specialized & Cultural Techniques:

European/American Techniques (Already Covered Above)

Non-European Techniques:

**Adobe (Southwestern U.S., Mexico, Middle East, and North Africa):

Material: Mud bricks (clay, sand, straw, and water)
Construction: Stack bricks, mud mortar
Benefits: Thermal mass (cool in day, warm at night), cheap, sustainable
History: Used for thousands of years (Indigenous Puebloans, ancient Mesopotamia, Yemen, and Morocco)
Project: Build small adobe structure (oven, bench, and a playhouse)

Bamboo Construction (Asia, Latin America):

Material: Bamboo (fast-growing grass, stronger than wood)
Joinery: Lashing (rope, not nails), bamboo pins
Construction: Frames, walls, and roofs (entire houses built of bamboo)
Benefits: Renewable (grows to full size in 3-5 years) and earthquake-resistant (flexible)
History: Used throughout Asia (China, Japan, Philippines, and Indonesia) and Latin America (Colombia and Ecuador)
Project: Build bamboo structure (trellis, fence, and a small shelter)

Cob (England and Wales, but also Yemen and Africa):

Material: Clay, sand, and straw (similar to adobe, but not formed into bricks)
Construction: Handfuls of cob stacked (sculptural)
Benefits: Beautiful curves, thermal mass, and cheap
Project: Cob bench (for school garden)

Timber Framing (Europe, Japan, and China):

Joinery: No nails (mortise and tenon, pegs)
Construction: Post and beam (frame, then fill walls)
Japanese Joinery: Intricate (no metal, extreme precision)
Project: Small timber frame (gazebo, pavilion)

Thatching (Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific):

Material: Dried grass, reeds, and palm fronds (for roofs)
Benefits: Insulating, breathable, and beautiful
History: Universal (every continent except Antarctica)
Project: Thatch small roof (shed, playhouse)

Stone Masonry (Global):

Dry stone walls: No mortar (stones fitted together)
- Used: Ireland, Scotland, Peru (Inca), and Zimbabwe
Mortar Stone: (Lime or cement mortar)
Project: Build a low stone wall (garden, decorative)

Basket Weaving (Global):

Materials: Willow, reed, pine needles, sweetgrass, and others
Techniques: Coiling, plaiting, and twining
History: Universal (one of oldest crafts)
Uses: Baskets, fences (wattle), fish traps, and boats (coracles)
Cultural significance: Many Indigenous cultures (basket weaving carries stories and teachings)
Project: Weave a basket (functional, decorative)

Earth Bags (Modern, but Based on Ancient Techniques):

Material: Bags filled with dirt and stacked
Benefits: Cheap (dirt is free), strong (bulletproof), and sustainable
Uses: Retaining walls, homes, and emergency shelters
Project: Build an earth bag structure (retaining wall, compost bin)

Rammed Earth (China, Middle East, Europe, Africa):

Construction: Wet dirt compacted in forms (creates solid walls)
Benefits: Thermal mass, durable (lasts centuries), and beautiful
History: Great Wall of China (parts rammed earth), Alhambra (Spain), and Mali (djenne mosques)
Project: (Difficult without equipment, but can demonstrate with small forms)

Auto Mechanics (11th-12th Grade Elective):

Engine: How it works (combustion, pistons, and crankshaft)
Maintenance: Oil changes, tire rotation, brake pads, and air filters
Diagnosis: Check engine light, use OBD scanner
Electrical: Battery, alternator, and starter
Safety: Jack stands (never just jack) and disconnect battery
Project: Maintain school vehicles, or bring in community members' cars (supervised repairs)

Repair Culture:

Right to Repair: Laws (companies make products unrepairable, force you to buy new)
- Fight: For right to repair (Apple, John Deere, and others lobby against)
Repair Cafes: Community spaces (people bring broken items and volunteers help repair)
- School Can Host: Monthly repair cafe (students help community)
Sustainability: Repairing extends life (reduces waste, extraction, and emissions)

Certification & Career Pathways

High School:

OSHA 10: Safety certification (can get in high school)
Dual Enrollment: With a trade school (start apprenticeship while in high school)

Post-high school:

Apprenticeships: Earn while you learn (union apprenticeships pay $20-30/hour while training)
- Electricians: 4-5 year apprenticeship
- Plumbers: 4-5 years
- Carpenters: 3-4 years
- Welders: 6 months-2 years (varies)
Trade School: (If needed, but apprenticeships often better)
Union Jobs: Higher pay, benefits, and pensions (IBEW for electricians, UA for plumbers, etc.)

Earnings:

Electrician: $60k-$100k/year (union journeyman)
Plumber: $50k-$90k
Welder: $45k-$80k (more for specialized, like underwater welding)
Carpenter: $45k-$75k
HVAC: $50k-$80k

Decolonizing Shop Class

Challenge Eurocentrism:

Not Just: "This is how we build" (implying Western techniques are only/best)
Also: "This is how people build around the world" (many techniques, all are valid)

Honor Indigenous Knowledge:

Invite: Indigenous builders and craftspeople (to teach traditional techniques)
Acknowledge: the Land (whose traditional techniques are we learning, whose land are we on)

Sustainability:

Local Materials: Use what's available (bamboo in South, adobe in Southwest, and timber in Northwest)
Low-Impact: Earthen construction, natural materials (lower carbon footprint than concrete and steel)

Resources

Equipment:

$100,000/School: Initial (tools, machinery, and materials)
$20,000/year: Ongoing (materials, maintenance, and replacement tools)

Safety:

Insurance: Liability (in case of injury)
Supervision: Trained teachers (journeyman tradespeople, not just people who took shop in high school)
Ratio: 1 teacher : 12 students max (for safety)

Teacher Recruitment:

Retired Tradespeople: (Electricians, carpenters, and welders) - hire to teach
Salary: $60-80k/year (competitive with trades, so they'll consider teaching)

Assessment

Competency-Based:

Can You: Use tools safely? Build to code? Complete a project?
Not: Written tests (demonstrate skill)

Benchmark:

By 8th Grade: Can use hand tools safely and has built simple projects
By 12th Grade: Can use power tools, has built complex projects, knows multiple techniques (Western + non-Western), can troubleshoot, and is ready for apprenticeship or trade school