Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives

by James A. Banks

“theory of progress”

“cultural rela...

culture refers to the symbolic meanings by which the members of a group or society communicate with and understand themselves, each other, and the world around them.

I then asked if she thought they were talking loudly because they were black or because they were kids.

Heath’s (1983) landmark study Ways with Words

cultural analyses in education based on culture as partial, emergent, fluid, and dynamic.

culture is not the “name for a thing;” rather, culture is “a placeholder for a set of inquiries—inquiries which may be destined to never be resolved”

cultural differences are “attributed to variations in people’s involvement in common practices of particular cultural communities”

teaching and learning are enhanced when teachers have in‐depth knowledge of their students’ everyday lives.

today’s educators cannot rely on one‐dimensional views of culture, teaching, and learning; rather, they must cultivate the capacity to view themselves, their students, and their learning and teaching as multidimensional.

students who attend affluent middle‐ and upper‐class schools have more resources, better teachers, and better educational opportunities than do students who attend low‐income, inner‐city schools.

Students who are socialized within religious families and communities often have beliefs and behaviors that conflict with those of the school.

Religious fundamentalists often challenge the scientific theories taught by schools about t...

a large corpus of evidence since Coleman points toward the role that schools play in the reproduction of social‐class inequalities both at the individual and collective societal levels.

it is arguably the case that schools work largely to reproduce and maintain class inequalities rather than fundamentally challenge them.

class is a fundamental organizer of social experience, both objective and subjective, and that it additionally constitutes an organizer that is at times ignored in our discussions of race and ethnicity.

counts as school (or “legitimate”) knowledge tends to embody the interests and culture of the group or groups who have the power to distribute and legitimate their worldview through educational institutions.

as the postsecondary system numerically expands, there is greater class‐linked inequality

while less‐privileged students increasingly attend institutions of higher education, attendance at the most selective ones is increasingly composed of more privileged students.