The United States is full of different ethnicities and races with different cultures and are accustomed to a variety of different behaviors and ways of learning. It is essential that the curriculum within the Nation’s schools, colleges, and universities are reflected to the ethnic, cultural, and racial diversity within the United States. Schools, colleges and universities are using various approaches to inspire ethnic content into the curriculum, including the contributions, additive, transformation, and social action approaches. To respond adequately to the ethnic realities with the nation and the world, the curriculum should be transformed and should help students to develop decision making and social action skills. According to the book …show more content…
This approach allows the teacher to put ethnic content into school curriculum without restructuring it. It is a long process that takes up time, effort, training, and rethinking of the curriculum and its purposes, nature, and goals. An example would be February is Black history month and March is Women’s history month, basically holidays around the world. The additive approach can be the first phase in a transformative curriculum and to integrate in with ethnic content, perspectives, and frames of reference (Banks, 1989). However, this approach shares several disadvantages with the contributions approach. Its most important shortcoming is that it usually results in the viewing of ethnic content from the perspectives of mainstream historians, writers, artists, and scientists because it does not involve a restructuring of the …show more content…
Major goals of instruction in this approach are to educate students for social criticism and social change and to teach them decision-making skills. For example, promoting human rights and peace at schools and working to ensure that the schools building and activities do not harm the environment. To empower students and help them obtain political efficacy, the school must help them become reflective social critics and skilled participants in social change (Banks 1989). The traditional goal of school has been to socialize students so they would accept unquestioningly the existing ideologies, institutions, and practices within society and the nation-state.
I believe that each approach stated by James Banks is important in its own way and do not over power one another. The four approaches to the integration of ethnic content into the curriculum I described above are often mixed and blended in actual teaching situations. An important goal that all of these approaches share are teaching about racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity which should be to empower students with knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to participate in civil action that will help transform our world and enhance the possibility for human
2. “Including ethnic and cultural diversity content in the curriculum” Seek out and use only factually based information on different cultural traits. “This is needed to make schooling more interesting and stimulating for, representative of, and responsive to ethnically diverse students,” and this is a teacher’s ultimate goal in being culturally
The mainstream school system constantly reminds society that the school is no place for politics or a place to teach values to students. However, the school does do this with the idea of democracy and through mainstream education ways of teaching and learning. Sensoy and DiAngelo also notice social justice education is something thought of as “extra.” Teachers argue there is no time for social justice education because they have to prepare students to be tested. In conclusion, this falls back on the corrupt education system. Teachers are teaching how the educational system want them
As mentioned in previous chapters the need to teach multiculturalism among young children. There are many misconceptions about multicultural teaching. For example, Bill Howe presents misconceptions about this theme and there were a few that were interesting such as, tour and detour approaches as appropriate in multicultural education. For example, Black history month is when many schools celebrate the accomplishments of African Americans. It is great to celebrate the accomplishments of the diverse population in the United States, but why celebrate it one a year. Maya Angelou once remarked that she will be glad when Black History Month is no longer necessary. When all Americans are sufficiently a part of our courses of study and daily instruction,
Ethnicity, race, and other diverse characteristics play very important roles in today's society. James Bank believes that “social science specialists in ethnic relations have abundantly documented the fact that ethnicity and ethnic cultures are integral parts of our social system” (pg 5). What children learn in elementary school about social studies and the history of their country and heritages will help determine what kind of citizen they will be to society when they are
This paradox is not just affecting low-income and minority students, but also students in non-minority groups as well. When there is no time for focus on skills that students need to participate in social change, these students will not learn to question practices within society or to work with other students from all different groups and backgrounds in order to effect change. Classes in schools which may contribute to multicultural education, such as social studies and foreign language, are being cut completely in order to spend more time on reading and math (Au, 2009). According to Au (2009), since multi-cultural anti-racist perspectives and content are not deemed legitimate by the high-stakes tests and classroom standards, the end result is that multicultural, anti-racist content and perspectives and not being included in the instruction time or curriculum. This reinforces the notion for white students that they are the dominant group in society, and works against the goals of multicultural education.
Many institutions questioned how they were going to provide class necessities and administrators for the newly added courses. These concerns arose when they wondered what kind of controversy will be created from having the classes and what exactly students will benefit from the teachings of ethnic studies. Hu-Dehart stated in her article, “The relationship between ethnic studies programs and traditional academic departments becomes unmanageable because it raises issues of turf protection, competition for scarce resources, and racism on the part of traditional scholars.” At first, the fight for ethnic studies seemed as simple as a three step process: add the class, find teachers, and find students interested in the course. However, many other factors contributed to the establishment of ethnic studies courses. As listed above, these issues complicate the ease of creating a multicultural academic course. Another thing to consider was that not all students agreed to have an ethnic studies course. According to Hu-Dehart, “Traditional scholars find it difficult to shake off their preconceptions about the illegitimacy and inferiority of ethnic studies programs and, by extension, ethnic studies scholars.” Although the importance of an ethnic studies course does not resonate with all student body, being aware of the opinions that are roused is just as important. There may not always be an agreeing audience but it is possible to open the minds of college students by exposing them to multicultural
“When students see their ethnic identities represented in the curriculum, they see their cultural history is valued, which serves to promote students’ sense of political efficacy— i.e., their belief that participation in their nation’s governance may make a difference for them (Bernstein, 1986) This is an important student-learning outcome of a multicultural curriculum because, historically, people of color have not been empowered to influence political policies and institutions, which often leaves them with a sense of societal helplessness and a lack of political influence over their collective future (Ogbu, 1990).” (Thompson, 2012)
1. There are two main issues that point out why multicultural education is important. One important issue that Banks and Grant make for the case of multicultural education is that in a population that’s as diverse in other races and ethnicities as America, it is necessary to bring up awareness of other cultures, experiences and perspectives because if the perspectives of racial and ethnic minorities are ignored by teachers when they teach students, students are going to be miseducated and prejudicial towards people of color (Grant 332). Another issue that Banks and Grant make for the case of multicultural education is the fact that multicultural education allows teachers to reach students of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic statuses.
Teachers can begin by incorporating Banks’ five dimensions of multicultural education. In addition teachers must take into consideration DuPraw and Axner’s six fundamental patterns of cultural differences. Then, parents and the community will need to be educated on the cultural differences. However, the parents will need their voice to be heard in order to decrease cross cultural miscommunication. As our country’s population diversifies, it will be our responsibility to not only educate ourselves but our students as well as our parents in order to have a successful
The United States serves as a culturally rich country who opens its arms to individuals from many different ethnicities, backgrounds, and life experiences. It seeks to be the melting pot of a blended group of people, providing opportunity and equity for all. Consequently, our educational system is the cornerstone for providing equal opportunity for all persons. Therefore, as the United States continues to be immersed with individuals from various cultures, the educational system must consistently seek to assure that educational opportunities are equally distributed to our students. In order for this task to be accomplished, developing a well-defined illustration of what multicultural education is necessary.
There are many factors that play a role in the learning process for every human being. Race, religion, language, socioeconomics, gender, family structure, and disabilities can all affect the ways in which we learn. Educators must take special measures in the delivery of classroom instruction to celebrate the learning and cultural differences of each of their students. As communities and schools continue to grow in diversity, teachers are searching for effective educational programs to accommodate the various learning styles of each student while promoting acceptance of cultural differences throughout the classroom. It no longer suffices to plan educational experiences only for middle-or upper class white learners and then
and curriculum. The discussion of the historical and philosophical background of multicultural education teaches educators how race and culture influence educational policy and programs. Multicultural teaching and curriculum is also crucial for the development of equitable education for diverse students. The author asserts that multicultural education can lessen biases while also furthering democratic beliefs and practices among students. The text’s discussion of multicultural education is significant to the field of multicultural education as it demonstrates how multicultural educational practices help students become culturally literate and prepared for today’s diverse and globalized world.
When instructing students in social studies, it is important that educators think and learn about what is included in a multicultural social studies program. It is important that this program include lessons that address both content and a context strands that are relevant to the experience of the students. Sunal & Haas, 2011 explains that social studies programs should consistently invite all students to participate in an experience that fosters different forms of communication such as spoken, graphic, written, and mathematical (pg. 318). There are three central premises that should be included in a multicultural social studies program: (a) That students can learn social studies; (b) That ALL students can participate effectively in the social studies program; and (c) That cultural diversity is important in a social studies program because it enhances rather than detracts from the richness and effectiveness of learning. In addition, Sunal & Haas, 2011 brings out that more is needed from educators than simply teaching lessons on Black History; Cinco
This paper explores Multicultural Educational Reform. It investigates how the current state of our democracy urges the educator to consider the pertinence and definition of multicultural education and how it can be achieved. It demonstrates how the knowledge of a cultural curriculum transformation combined with understanding what constitutes multicultural curriculum can lead to reforming a mainstream curriculum that currently caters only, or primarily, to the Eurocentric, male-centric society that laid the foundation for education. This paper will
There is more to multi-cultural education than simply showing cultural awareness within the classroom. To successfully reflect a multi-cultural society within your classroom, you would need to implement a series of strategies that would address the diverse range of under-represented groups within the curriculum. Not purely focusing on race and culture, this would also include women and those with disabilities who were more often than not, forgotten about in years gone by. For example, celebrating ‘Black History Month’ once a year is not enough. There needs to be a constant inclusion of diverse cultures and histories, as doing so will only help to combat stereotypes and prejudicial behaviour. Banks