LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) ” A middle school English teacher in Lafayette is pushing for more diversity in the authors who his students are reading.
Jacob Leger has been a teacher at the David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy for three years, The Advertiser reported.
He told the newspaper that his department was being trained recently on the state’s new English curriculum. Most of the 23 authors on the list of novels to be read by middle and high school students are white men, the department’s educators noticed.
Leger was troubled by that because it doesn’t leave a lot of room to tell other stories. He’d like to see more authors of color, authors with disabilities or from the LGBTQ+ community, the newspaper reported.
‘By under-representing minority groups in the media we consume, we send a message about the importance of those groups,’ Leger said.
The teacher has started an online petition to get the curriculum changed in order to include more diverse voices. He’s also met with both local and state officials in an effort to push for changes.
Ted Beasley, director of communications for the Louisiana Department of Education, said the department is working on including ‘more diverse characters, text types, and authors.’ District officials said they are also creating a focus group to study what can be done about the issue.
