Education Equality for All Students

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Education equality for all students
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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EDUCATION EQUALITY FOR ALL THE STUDENTS1
America is a melting hotpot for so many ethnic groups that is why multicultural
integration should be encouraged in American curriculum. Culture is an intrinsic part of every
individual, it governs a lot of their thinking and behavioral pattern. It is crucial that every child
feels included and well represented in a diverse classroom. Multicultural integration helps to
develop cultural sensitivity and knowledge about other cultures. Studies show children who grow
up in a multicultural environ are more open-minded, learn to adapt to changes, and are more
empathetic in nature. It is very important for educators to create an equal environment for all
their students. This topic examines recent research, issues, and educational practices related to
multiculturalism in schools and society.
The U.S has seen influx of immigrants from all over the world; this led to change in the
classroom dynamics as well. Recent studies point to multiple advantages of integrating a
multicultural dynamics to education. The benefits include development of better communication
skills, more open-minded viewpoint, building empathy and understanding of other cultures;
children also develop better understanding and appreciate their own culture more. While
evaluating James Banks, he mentions four approaches that educators generally take while
addressing multicultural approach in the classroom setting (Banks & Banks, 2015). First is the
contributions approach that is where teachers reserve cultural integration in the curriculum for
special days such as Black History Week, Cinco de Mayo, and birthday of Martin Luther King.
During these days, students are taught about these days through different cultural activities but it
lacks proper integration and understanding of the ethnic groups. Instead, it instils stereotypical
knowledge and misconception of the various ethnic group. Therefore, this method is superficial
and proves ineffective. Second is the ethnic additive approach allows the teacher to include
various cultural themes and concepts without changing the basic structure of the curriculum, it is

EDUCATION EQUALITY FOR ALL THE STUDENTS2
more radical in approach yet it faces disadvantage as it address the various topics in history,
literature and other subject from a mainstream perspective and lacks the minority perspective.
Thirdly, is the transformation approach differs greatly from the above-mentioned approaches; it
views various subjects, issues and others from all the possible perspective. It includes the
perspective of the group involved in a particular war, and provides students with new method to
approach a problem. However, it is not always possible to address every ethnic group or culture
in a curriculum that has a stipulated timeframe. Lastly, is the social action approach that contains
all the features of the transformational approach but involves decision-making process that
challenges the students to choose a course of action and allows them to think about a particular
issue that improves their analyzing skills. As a fifth grade teacher, I would like to involve
curriculum plan that includes a blend of all the four approaches. I think it is not possible to begin
with social action process; fifth graders need to build an understanding of various cultures
around them that can be increased though additive and contribution approach, transformational
process. Cultural perception and knowledge building is a gradual and cumulative process.
Educators often equate fair treatment of all students with color blindness approach. It
however does not resolve the issue of racism and representation of students from various
communities (Modica, 2015). Race is often conceived negatively given the history of racial
oppression in the country but race is part of a person’s heritage, culture, tradition and something
that adds deep positive meaning to one’s life. Hence it is important to give validation to people’s
identity by acknowledging an individual and their race. Secondly, colorblindness negates the
racist experiences students from minority generally face. Studies show black American students
are often subjected to racial discrimination in a white dominant school. Racism exists and it is
important that the education system acknowledges it and addresses it instead turning the other