Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism’s Five Dimensions
Dr. James A. Banks on Multicultural Education
Dr. James A. Banks, author of Educating Citizens in a Multicultural Society (Teachers College Press, $22.95), spoke recently with NEA Today’s Michelle Tucker about the concept he’s developed called “the five dimensions of multicultural education.” Especially for NEA Today Online readers, here is the complete interview. A shorter version ran in the September 1998 issue.
Could you briefly describe the five dimensions of multicultural education?
Yes. But I’d like to first, if I may, talk a little bit of why I developed the dimensions. I found in my work with teachers that many thought of multicultural education as merely content integration. I once gave a talk on multicultural education at a school. When I was done, a math teacher said to me, “What you said is fine for social studies, but it has nothing to do with me.” My first reaction was anger and frustration. But then I thought my role as a scholar is to get beyond that and realize that maybe other teachers think that also—that in the minds of many science and math teachers, multicultural education was simply content integration. So I developed the “five dimensions of multicultural education” to help educators see that content integration—say, putting content about Mexican Americans or African Americans in the curriculum— is important, but that it’s only the first dimension of multicultural education, and that multicultural education has at least five dimensions.
So the first dimension is content integration?
Yes, because that is how we got started. That is, we got started putting African Americans in the curriculum, Mexican Americans in the curriculum, Asian Americans in the curriculum. But while that’s important, that’s really only one dimension. You’ll notice that as I move across the dimensions, more and more teachers can get involved—more kinds of teachers, whether they teach math or science. Frankly, with content
Dr. James A. Banks on Multicultural Education
Dr. James A. Banks, author of Educating Citizens in a Multicultural Society (Teachers College Press, $22.95), spoke recently with NEA Today’s Michelle Tucker about the concept he’s developed called “the five dimensions of multicultural education.” Especially for NEA Today Online readers, here is the complete interview. A shorter version ran in the September 1998 issue.
Could you briefly describe the five dimensions of multicultural education?
Yes. But I’d like to first, if I may, talk a little bit of why I developed the dimensions. I found in my work with teachers that many thought of multicultural education as merely content integration. I once gave a talk on multicultural education at a school. When I was done, a math teacher said to me, “What you said is fine for social studies, but it has nothing to do with me.” My first reaction was anger and frustration. But then I thought my role as a scholar is to get beyond that and realize that maybe other teachers think that also—that in the minds of many science and math teachers, multicultural education was simply content integration. So I developed the “five dimensions of multicultural education” to help educators see that content integration—say, putting content about Mexican Americans or African Americans in the curriculum— is important, but that it’s only the first dimension of multicultural education, and that multicultural education has at least five dimensions.
So the first dimension is content integration?
Yes, because that is how we got started. That is, we got started putting African Americans in the curriculum, Mexican Americans in the curriculum, Asian Americans in the curriculum. But while that’s important, that’s really only one dimension. You’ll notice that as I move across the dimensions, more and more teachers can get involved—more kinds of teachers, whether they teach math or science. Frankly, with content