"At-risk students improve when they take a race and ethnicity class – study"

"The Stanford University study analyzed a pilot program of ethnic studies classes at three San Francisco high schools and found that, on average, at-risk ninth-graders encouraged to enroll in the course performed significantly better than their peers who didn’t...

Researchers concluded that the results of the study show that “culturally relevant” teaching is an important part of the education of students at risk of flunking or dropping out.

“Slight little nudges that help people reframe their experiences can have a big effect,” Dee said.

Other cities that have instituted ethnic studies offerings in school districts include Oakland and Los Angeles.

In Portland, Oregon, students recently lobbied for the class to be offered on a wide basis in public high schools.

But the non-traditional curriculums have been challenged by some conservatives in places like Arizona, where state legislators passed legislation banning ethnic studies from schools in 2010."

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/14/stanford-study-at-risk-students-race-ethnicity-class-performance

I mean, we DO get ethnic studies in the "traditional" curriculum, we learn about all the different kinds of white people. We learn ancient European history, we learn how various European ethnic groups arrived in America, we learn about their struggles and we learn about the influences of those ethnic groups.

The rest of us just get used to being invisible/not really existing, and literally only learning about ourselves through the interactions our groups had with white people. We learn our double consciousness.