DGS offers Multicultural Studies in American Society as an elective social studies class and civics credit, which provides a unique opportunity for students to gain the understanding that society is a complex structure. While this class focuses on how cultures, race and ethnicity impacts the historical background of the United States, it also stands out for being restricted or illegal in some states making its availability at DGS significant.

Social studies teacher Kristyn Campos, the current teacher of multicultural studies at DGS describes the purpose of this class.

“The goal is empathy and equity to make sure we understand everyone’s story, their starting place, the reasons for experiences and an understanding that we are human beings. We should treat each other that way, regardless of our skin color, but our skin color at the same time matters immensely in how we are treated,” Campos said.

Being in a time of debate over what education is most important for students, this class strives to acknowledge history in a new perspective, recognizes the diversity and how it has shaped people’s experiences.

Multicultural’s focus is to examine the diversity of the United States, and focusing on the experiences and perspectives of racial, ethnic and cultural groups. The class teaches students how complex American history is with its diversity and understands the realities of inequality, stereotypes and other types of oppression against minority groups in society today.

Social Studies department chair Christopher Esposito who not only helped propose this class to the board but also formerly taught this class highlights the motivation behind Multicultural Studies.

“This course explores race in an American society historically and uses sociology as a basis to understand the way in which race functions in our society. It is intended to reflect our very diverse multicultural society and if we are going to live in this multicultural society then we should understand what that means and who may or may not be different from us and have different experiences,” Esposito said.

Dr. Esposito also shares the following Illinois learning standards that incorporate Multicultural Studies in the DGS curriculum supporting more students.

“We took a good, hard look at our curriculum and said, we have a lot of students who don’t see themselves in our curriculum. They don’t see their experiences, and so we aimed to change that about 10 years ago” Esposito said.

Multicultural studies being offered at a diverse school like DGS makes it more meaningful for students to gain understanding about themselves and their peers. Junior Ally O’Connor expresses how she chose this class not only to fulfill her required civics credit but to learn about the world around her.

“It honestly feels like a privilege to be able to learn these ideas because other students in certain states literally can’t because it is illegal. If you choose to take this class, you will learn a lot more about yourself and the people around you,” O’Connor said.

She found it particularly interesting that Irish immigrants were initially not considered white in the US and had a story behind their immigration.

“When looking at the options for civics classes, it was between taking government or taking a class [where] I can learn about my family’s background, which is really interesting to me,” O’Connor said.

Not all students taking the course were immediately certain of their choice. Another student in the class, junior Ivy Ssenabulya shares how the class has been a pleasant surprise for her.

“Honestly, when I heard about the class, I was a little bit skeptical of it because I wanted to take AP Psychology. But when I found out that the class goes into detail about various different cultures throughout the history of the United States, I said, You know what? This seems interesting, and I’ll take this class. I haven’t regretted my decision,” Ssenabulya said.

As the only teacher of the course, Campos is able to keep a strong focus on skills for her students to learn from the class.

“Critical thinking. I mean the number one skill, can you think critically about an issue that is not just what you see in front of you? There’s a background, there’s a story, there’s a reason,” Campos said.

Leaving the classroom, students are gaining more than just a required credit – they leave with understanding the various complexities surrounding them daily in society. The class expands past the school walls with one conversation at a time.