School course faces hurdles
Parents, community split over high school diversity classes
To some, Arundel High School’s Global Community Citizenship course seems like the perfect solution.
It satisfies demands of local civil rights leaders, who called on Anne Arundel County schools to introduce mandatory diversity- and inclusion-centered coursework into classrooms.
It came in the wake of a petition that called on students to join a white supremacy movement circulated the school — an incident that renewed calls for a system response.
The Board of Education is on board. Its members are reviewing a policy that would make Global Community Citizenship a graduation requirement at all county high schools.
But to others, the course isn’t worth the sweeping changes it would make to high school curriculum.
At a meeting with the school board last week, both opponents and supporters testified about the course.
Donna Corey, a parent with students in the South River feeder system, said she approves of the course, but does not believe students should be forced to take it.
“I believe it’s a valuable class. I do not believe that it needs to be a requirement,”
Corey said. “If you have to have a requirement, could it not be a financial literacy class? I think all students could gain from something like that.”
The school system offers finance classes, but none are graduation requirements.
Students begin the Global Community Citizenship course with lessons on selfexploration and discovery. Personality tests are given for homework; community circles that engage students and teachers in an open discussion are classroom mainstays.
Former students said they sat through lessons on cultural competency, tolerance, stereotypes, biases and empathy. They learned how to communicate with people they disagree with.
In its current form, the course will be a half-credit class that every incoming ninthgraders will have to take, starting next school year.
Current school district policy requires students to take eight and one-half credits of electives before they graduate. Electives See COURSE, page 2
It satisfies demands of local civil rights leaders, who called on Anne Arundel County schools to introduce mandatory diversity- and inclusion-centered coursework into classrooms.
It came in the wake of a petition that called on students to join a white supremacy movement circulated the school — an incident that renewed calls for a system response.
The Board of Education is on board. Its members are reviewing a policy that would make Global Community Citizenship a graduation requirement at all county high schools.
But to others, the course isn’t worth the sweeping changes it would make to high school curriculum.
At a meeting with the school board last week, both opponents and supporters testified about the course.
Donna Corey, a parent with students in the South River feeder system, said she approves of the course, but does not believe students should be forced to take it.
“I believe it’s a valuable class. I do not believe that it needs to be a requirement,”
Corey said. “If you have to have a requirement, could it not be a financial literacy class? I think all students could gain from something like that.”
The school system offers finance classes, but none are graduation requirements.
Students begin the Global Community Citizenship course with lessons on selfexploration and discovery. Personality tests are given for homework; community circles that engage students and teachers in an open discussion are classroom mainstays.
Former students said they sat through lessons on cultural competency, tolerance, stereotypes, biases and empathy. They learned how to communicate with people they disagree with.
In its current form, the course will be a half-credit class that every incoming ninthgraders will have to take, starting next school year.
Current school district policy requires students to take eight and one-half credits of electives before they graduate. Electives See COURSE, page 2
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