Blog entry # 5 Jan 25, 2010

Diversity within Unity
Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Society

By James A. Banks
Summarized by: Adeba Sultana

Introduction:
This article discusses the 12 principles that were developed by a group of political scientists consisting of one sociologist, four multicultural education specialists and two psychologists along with some other members from other universities. This panel was modeled to write reports for the national Academy of Sciences with the purpose of finding ways to solve problems in the most efficient way. These panels are called essential principles, and they lead to the improvement of the education policies and their implementation and in the long run to help improve the skills within the groups.
The 12 essential principles are as follows:
Principle 1: Professional development programs for teachers to know more about ethnic groups in the American society.
Principle 2: All students should have equitable opportunities to learn.
Principle 3: Curriculum should cover all social, political, and economic contexts.
Principle 4: Use of supplementary material to develop knowledge.
Principle 5: Developing inter group relations.
Principle 6: Stereotyping that has effect on racial and ethnic relations.
Principle 7: Learning about values.
Principle 8: Teachers should create the right environment to interact with students.
Principle 9: Students from different racial groups should interact with each other.
Principle 10: Members of the school should learn collaborative skills and dispositions in order to create a caring environment for students.
Principle 11: Funds should be distributed equitably.
Principle 12: Teachers should use different cultural techniques for assessment.


Conclusion: School policies need to take into consideration the diversity of the students and respect each individual student's needs.

Reference:
Banks, James A. (2001). Diversity within Unity: Essential Principles for Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Society.