Cultural Erasure by Hillary

Cultural Erasure by Hillary - June 2025 Scholarship Essay

Ethnic Studies should be mandated nationwide at both the high school and collegiate levels. It’s only fair to the marginalized communities that suffered--and continue suffering--to be given acknowledgment of their mistreatment and to hold America accountable.
Though I primarily took advanced history classes in my high school, such as AP US History, none of them even introduced the root causes of the continued misogyny or racism we see today. After all, these classes took place on a timeline--ending at the AP Exam--and could not “afford” to deviate from said schedule. Yet this limited mindset, shared throughout educators across the nation, will only cost us our future and rewrite the past. Whereas my required courses introduced Martin Luther King, it was my Ethnic Studies class that introduced the Black Panther Party, the Asian Coalition for Equality, and further explored discrimination against other groups, such as the Chicano Movement. We were taught that change is not just reserved for older audiences--even high school students are capable of it. When Mexican American students experienced blatant discrimination, they were the ones who walked out of their classes and protested until their demands were met. It stressed that waiting and hiding under the excuse of youth is no justification when change is needed.
In addition, Ethnic Studies was able to better intertwine different social groups to demonstrate that no issue exists in isolation. For instance, the Chicano Moratorium covered the disproportionate number of Mexican Americans being sent off to the Vietnam War with escalating mortality rates. Meanwhile, in my history class, the Vietnam War unit neglected to mention racism on the battlefield and opted to focus on the primarily white leaders. Ethnic Studies also highlighted influential leaders who have sadly become overlooked, such as Patsy Mink, the first woman of color to serve in Congress. In fact, she was the driving force behind Title IX, which prohibited sex discrimination in educational settings. Not only does Ethnic Studies cover marginalized communities, it also gives recognition where it is due.
If history is not continuously discussed, it can easily become manipulated and erased--leaving so many communities vulnerable. With no one to remember the sacrifices and suffering inflicted, the signs of cultural erasure and ingrained prejudice will begin to go unnoticed, and history will start repeating itself. Unfortunately, many students do not understand why racism, misogyny, or homophobia remain such large issues--it’s because they don’t recognize that these systems are ingrained and built into our institutions. We owe it to all the communities and leaders who experienced inequality and contributed to the progression of America to keep their history alive. Thus, Ethnic Studies should be a requirement across the nation--because every student should know the history of the land we walk on today.