Students in the Los Angeles Unified School District will soon be required to take ethnic studies in order to graduate from high school.

The requirement, which will take effect in the 2018–19 school year, is intended to encourage cultural understanding and to narrow the academic gap between minority students and their white and Asian classmates by pushing students to explore different perspectives in literature, history and social justice.

Ethnic studies started in LA Unified in the 1990s, but the district left it to individual schools to decide whether to offer the classes and few did. This time it isn’t optional.

Students largely drove the campaign to require the courses. They wrote letters, led petition drives and met with educators and elected officials to build support.

Their success bucks the trend elsewhere. In Texas, a movement to require Mexican American courses was recently defeated, while in Tucson the state dismantled a popular Mexican American studies program that educators are now trying to rebuild.

“I’ve never experienced such a victory before,” said junior Michelle Thomas, who helped organize petition drives and plan rallies in Los Angeles. “It shows that when students organize, we can actually get things done.”

Los Angeles Times, Dec. 8