Life at MA • Opinion

The Shift From Ethnic Studies to Intro to Transdisciplinary Learning

By Marina Gunning '27 in Winter 2026

Those of us who are no longer freshmen, but were 9th graders at Marin Academy, spent an hour and fifteen minutes every other school day in Ethnic Studies during the Spring semester of our freshman year. That era ended this school year, when the class was replaced by a new program, Intro to Transdisciplinary Learning (ITL). Curious about this shift, I set out to understand why the change was made and what ITL aims to accomplish.

I first met with Dr. Annelise Morris, a history teacher and one of the leaders in bringing Ethnic Studies to Marin Academy. The class began in 2022, prompted by California's bill requiring Ethnic Studies for graduation and the broader national reckoning of race and inequality following the 2020 protests. Rather than using race-based units, MA's curriculum included four guiding concepts: "myself, institutions, the media, and my community in the world." This structure gave teachers flexibility to use current case studies reflecting student interests. For example, classes often examined housing discrimination in Marin County using recent cases from '21 and '22. As Morris explained, "The most important thing about an Ethnic Studies course...is to center the voices of historically marginalized and racialized people," equipping students to take perspective, critically examine power, and engage productively with discomfort.

To learn what replaced Ethnic Studies, I interviewed Harrison Shure, Dean of Academics, and Piya Kashyap, Dean of Equity and Inclusion. They described ITL not as a replacement, but as an evolution, noting that the program fulfills MA's Ethnic Studies credit requirement. The program is organized around three "micros": digital storytelling, human-centered design, and data visualization. Students create media exploring identity, propose human-focused solutions, and interpret data connected to societal issues.

A defining feature of ITL is student choice. Shure explained, "One of the things that we're gonna ask every single student is, 'I want to know what you really care about,'" after which students explore those interests in historical, social, and institutional contexts. While this allows personally meaningful inquiry, it shifts the focus from explicitly centering historically marginalized voices. Kashyap clarified, "ITL is not necessarily saying to students, 'we are focused on the stories and histories of marginalized communities,' rather how storytelling works in the world." For example, students recently analyzed a TED Talk by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie through the lens of "balancing stories"—"for every person to have access to the stage of storytelling, not just marginalized communities, not just dominant communities, but everybody."

Thus, marginalized voices are included but are no longer the central focus, marking a notable departure from Ethnic Studies principles and creating ambiguity about the extent of expected engagement with marginalized perspectives. Since ITL is still in its first year, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions: much will depend on students' and teachers' experiences. For now, I am left wondering: Has ITL evolved Ethnic Studies into something newly relevant, or has the shift diluted the course's commitment to centering historically marginalized and racialized voices?