An 8-year-old Fil-Am is championing diversity in K-12 curriculum

Photo from Honesty For Ohio Education/X

In this modern world where diversity is being embraced, one young student stood up for what she thought was relevant. Eight-year-old Filipino American Rosie Factora-Brochers got her message across — inclusion of immigrants’ migration stories in Social Studies curriculum.

This kid powerhouse from Worthington, Ohio is only a third-grader who bravely held the mic to testify at the Ohio House’s Primary and Secondary Education Committee in favor of a bill that could change Social Studies curriculum in the state.

Barely reaching the microphone, Rosie stood in a room with all the decision-makers as she advocated for House Bill 171. She emphasized the need to include immigrant families’ migration stories in social studies as it’s something that she never encountered in her school classes.

Her grandparents migrated from the Philippines to the US six decades ago. “I call them Lolo and Lola, which means grandfather and grandmother in Tagalog, their native language in the Philippines,” shared Rosie with the committee.

Today we joined @teamOPAWL & many incredible orgs to support HB 171, which would offer #Ohio teachers more diverse social studies materials to choose from when planning their curriculumhttps://t.co/rnzLgjt8JA pic.twitter.com/4rPiPABmjK

— Honesty For Ohio Education (@Honesty4OhioEd) December 12, 2023

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House Bill 171: A focus on migration education

House Bill 171 is a K-12 model curriculum aiming to give the educational system in Ohio a dash of cultural representation.

It proposes “age and grade-appropriate instruction in the migration journeys, experiences, and societal contributions” of diverse communities such as Asian Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, African, Arabs, and North African, Jews, Latin and Appalachians immigrants and refugees.

While the committee gained 80 testimonies supporting the bill, they only heard from a handful during the “invited testimony” session. We’re still positive that if Stanford University can boost Asian American artists, this bill can be approved with just more nudges from the aforementioned communities.

“By learning about a broad range of diverse cultures and experiences, all students will be prepared with the 21st century life skills necessary to navigate the diversity of the world after graduation.”
-Clovis Westlund speaks in support of Ohio HB 171https://t.co/rnzLgjt8JA pic.twitter.com/rLZsRZXDxA

— Honesty For Ohio Education (@Honesty4OhioEd) December 12, 2023

Leading the initiative for House Bill 171 is OPAWL — Building AAPI Feminist Leadership. Headed by Democratic state Rep. Mary Lightbody, this grassroots community rallied support with more than 3,000 letters from various organizations sent to the committee.

“Obviously this is something that people in our state feel very passionate about,” noted chair state Rep. Adam Bird.

Meanwhile, Sarah Kaka who is representing Ohio Council for Social Studies also testified. With two decades of experience in Social Studies education, she is all for the bill trying to remodel social studies curriculum.

She agrees that it resonates with how Ohio classrooms are made up. “Adding it to the model curriculum wouldn’t necessarily change the standards in any way, but it would enhance the guidance that teachers would be provided with in terms of the content that they would teach,” emphasized Kaka.

Words can either make or break you but words from a young spirit like Rosie can make a positive change and help push through House Bill 171 heading for a curriculum remodel with a focus on migration education.