In recent years, many Asian students at the high school have expressed that they are not seeing themselves represented enough in the curriculum, pushing students to advocate and ultimately bringing about new courses with more Asian representation.

One such course is the new Asian American Literature class that was approved in January and will be launching in the 2023-24 school year for juniors and seniors.

Kevin Wang, English teacher and Asian Pacific American Club’s (APAC) adviser, designed and pitched this course as a mixed-grade honors class to the curriculum coordinator, John Andrews. The course was then edited and reviewed by the English department, and was finally voted on and approved by the Brookline School Committee. Wang will be teaching the course next year and said that he hopes the course brings more diversity to the current English curriculum.

“I always say the English curriculum is like a house that you’re never going to be done building, just because there’s always room for improvement. Right now it’s alright, but it can be done better. On the strength of the reception of Asian American Lit, everyone in the department is fully in support, so it comes down to budget; how much money do we have to order certain things and the timing of it all,” Wang said.

The creation of the course came as a result of a presentation last year by several APAC members, including senior Vi Lee. Based on the Teach Act, a bill that passed in Illinois in 2021 requiring AAPI history to be taught in schools, the presentation primarily focused on modifying the English and History curriculums at the high school to include more representation of Asians and Asian Americans.

The APAC members have created a list of possible books to implement in the course’s syllabus. Chinese teacher Lihua Shorter helped raise over $10,000 to buy books for the library and classrooms.

Lee said they hope the course will benefit both Asian students who have not felt accurately represented and non-Asian students who can learn more about people different from them.

“Based on the Panorama data we know Asian students at this school specifically feel like they don’t belong, and there isn’t anybody to turn to especially because there are so few Asian teachers here,” Lee said. “I think having that diversity is good for all students; it gives students who don’t identify with whatever they’re talking about an opportunity to learn about different cultures.”

The class was meant to be an extension of the LEAP program, an advisory program designed for Asian students that was piloted this year, with the purpose of giving more institutionalized support. Freshman history teacher and LEAP adviser Sydney Hou said that Asian students are often discouraged from prioritizing themselves.

“We’re often asking Asian American students to not choose themselves, and we perpetuate the narrative that if there’s an honors or AP, then Asian American students will be fine with it, which is not true,” Hou said. “We perpetuate the system of the ‘model minority’ myth, to make our Asian American students feel like they should take the AP and the honors, regardless of them being seen or not. We’re offering these robust, Asian American-oriented courses, for English and History, so that they now have that option.”

According to Lee, many of the typical English and history courses offered at the high school exist as “survey courses,” that offer a taste of experiences around the world or America; however, some stories are often forgotten as a result.

“I’ve only read one book, Everything I Never Told You, that was about Asians, throughout all of school so that’s definitely not been super representative,” Lee said. “That book specifically resonated with me a lot because it’s about a biracial Chinese girl, but that’s not going to be representative of the entire Asian community.”

Hou said that students being involved in creating new courses allows for more diversity and that taking initiative will give students a say in what they want to learn about.

“As we march towards this new world where young folks are so social justice-oriented, I do think creating courses like this offer the opportunity for students to think about how they can advocate for themselves and come up with classes that are academically challenging, that make them think and learn, and also fulfills this other, more vague need that’s mentally fulfilling, about your happiness and mental growth,” Hou said.