Jailine Zavala

Dr. Maura M. Tarnoff

English 1A

October 2018

Precious Knowledge CRL

The documentary, Precious Knowledge, emphasizes the importance of ethnic studies for

students. It highlights the immense benefits it can have on students who were previously

struggling. The film depicts a situation where the students learn about the disproportionate

demographics of African American prison population versus Caucasians when compared to the

United States population. The teacher reveals that African Americans make up forty one percent

of the prison population, but only twelve percent of the United States population while

Caucasians make up seventy percent of the United States population, and only thirty one percent

of the prison population. The film suggests that ethnic studies programs are a solution to the

inequalities within education because they ignite a passion for learning and motivate students by

allowing them to understand the importance of their education.The book, Just Mercy, explains

the injustices that many people of color and poor people face within the criminal justice system.

The author, Bryan Stevenson, makes a plea for action to his readers, asking them to fix the

brokenness of the system. Given that more educated youth are less likely to end up prison, we

can connect the two ideas a determine a possible solution. If all youth who are prone to falling

victim to the broken criminal justice system were a part of an ethnic studies class, then they

could be less likely to fall subject to the system in the first place. In other words, we could

prevent the issue at its root through education. As audience members of both works, we can feel

compelled to advocate for ethnic studies because we realize that education, specifically ethnic
studies, can be the necessary solution to the achievement gap in America, and ultimately the

brokenness of the criminal justice system.