1.1 Introduction
For many generations, educational institutions have been putting a filter on the information being delivered to students. Typically, the material given is from a European viewpoint and fails to provide little knowledge about non-European cultures. It is important to incorporate past events, good and bad, about each culture in the education system, not only from the point of view of Europeans but from the perspective of the culture the events are relative to. Section two of this paper will focus on James Banks ' article written for "Educational Leadership", and illuminate the idea of needing a shift in the mainstream curriculum. In section three this paper will look at why the revision of the Eurocentric curriculum is important, …show more content…
It will also identify the sociological approach which was taken when writing this paper, and identify the approach that is evident within Banks ' writing. In doing so, it will argue that the information output dominating in educational institutions known as the Eurocentric curriculum should be reformed to reflect a more culturally diverse perspective. 2.1 Article Summary: James Banks ', "Transforming the Mainstream Curriculum"
James Banks (1994), the journalist who wrote "Transforming the Mainstream Curriculum", begins his article by talking about how diverse schools have become in recent times. He then goes on to question how institutions can modernize to include all citizens ' perspectives which in turn will make the institutions themselves more transformed and enriched. Next he suggests five dimensions of multicultural education that can help educators put programs into action that acknowledge student diversity. The five dimensions that Banks proposes are: content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, equitable pedagogy, and empowering school culture and social structure. Content integration is regulating content of different groups (such as women, people of color, disabled people, etc.) into the curriculum. Knowledge construction is the act of teachers …show more content…
First of all, topics that were never even brought up in the second half of the 20th century, slowly started making their way into the curriculum in the subsequent years. When my mom was in school she was never taught subject matters such as residential schools, the first arrival of the First Nations on our land, or the feminist theory. All of these are examples of important cultural and gender-specific aspects of our society that should be mentioned. When I was in high school some of this stuff was brought up, but was covered very briefly and was usually told from a European understanding of the event. However, if the trend we are seeing keeps moving forward then it gives me hope that future generations will be able to get a full glimpse of what our diverse history has to offer. Additionally, individuals have come up with a variety of solutions to help deal with this issue. For example, Thompson and Cuseo (2012) provide four stages that will help push the idea of a multicultural curriculum forward. The first stage is where we are at right now with the mainstream curriculum. Hero and holidays, the second stage, concentrates on praising diversity and exposing students to cultural material and information. The third stage is integration, which means having a curriculum containing important information
For many generations, educational institutions have been putting a filter on the information being delivered to students. Typically, the material given is from a European viewpoint and fails to provide little knowledge about non-European cultures. It is important to incorporate past events, good and bad, about each culture in the education system, not only from the point of view of Europeans but from the perspective of the culture the events are relative to. Section two of this paper will focus on James Banks ' article written for "Educational Leadership", and illuminate the idea of needing a shift in the mainstream curriculum. In section three this paper will look at why the revision of the Eurocentric curriculum is important, …show more content…
It will also identify the sociological approach which was taken when writing this paper, and identify the approach that is evident within Banks ' writing. In doing so, it will argue that the information output dominating in educational institutions known as the Eurocentric curriculum should be reformed to reflect a more culturally diverse perspective. 2.1 Article Summary: James Banks ', "Transforming the Mainstream Curriculum"
James Banks (1994), the journalist who wrote "Transforming the Mainstream Curriculum", begins his article by talking about how diverse schools have become in recent times. He then goes on to question how institutions can modernize to include all citizens ' perspectives which in turn will make the institutions themselves more transformed and enriched. Next he suggests five dimensions of multicultural education that can help educators put programs into action that acknowledge student diversity. The five dimensions that Banks proposes are: content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, equitable pedagogy, and empowering school culture and social structure. Content integration is regulating content of different groups (such as women, people of color, disabled people, etc.) into the curriculum. Knowledge construction is the act of teachers …show more content…
First of all, topics that were never even brought up in the second half of the 20th century, slowly started making their way into the curriculum in the subsequent years. When my mom was in school she was never taught subject matters such as residential schools, the first arrival of the First Nations on our land, or the feminist theory. All of these are examples of important cultural and gender-specific aspects of our society that should be mentioned. When I was in high school some of this stuff was brought up, but was covered very briefly and was usually told from a European understanding of the event. However, if the trend we are seeing keeps moving forward then it gives me hope that future generations will be able to get a full glimpse of what our diverse history has to offer. Additionally, individuals have come up with a variety of solutions to help deal with this issue. For example, Thompson and Cuseo (2012) provide four stages that will help push the idea of a multicultural curriculum forward. The first stage is where we are at right now with the mainstream curriculum. Hero and holidays, the second stage, concentrates on praising diversity and exposing students to cultural material and information. The third stage is integration, which means having a curriculum containing important information