Leo Holland

Kern High School District's assistant superintendent of instruction, Leo Holland, said ethnic studies improves critical thinking skills and grade-point averages.

 John Cox / The Californian

Discussion opened Monday night on a proposal to offer an elective course on ethnic studies at select Kern High School District campuses as soon as this fall in advance of a state requirement that all students in California take a class on the subject before receiving a diploma.

The course more than three years in the making drew public comments of support from former KHSD students who told the district's Board of Trustees that ethnic studies classes they took in college widened their academic perspective and improved their engagement with their own cultural backgrounds.