©  Elizabeth  Wood            February  2013  

Multicultural  Education  Issues  and  Perspectives  Seventh  Edition  James  A.  Banks  and  Cherry  A.  McGee  Banks    

 Chapter  7  Review:  Classrooms  for  Diversity:  Rethinking  Curriculum  and  Pedagogy      

1) What  is  gender-­‐balanced,  multicultural  curriculum?    

Please  see  answer  given  in  question  3.        

2) What  is  feminist  phase  theory?      According  to  the  textbook,  feminist  theory  is  “a  classification  system  of  the  evolution  in  thought  about  the  incorporation  of  women’s  traditions,  history,  and  experiences  into  selected  disciplines”  (pg.  171).    In  common  words,  the  feminist  theory  is  the  study  and  addition  of  adding  women  into  the  history  books.    It  also  generally  highlights  why  women  are  important  to  our  culture.    

3) Define  and  give  an  example  of  the  following  phases  of  the  feminist  phase  theory  developed  and  described  by  the  author:  (a)  male-­‐defined  curriculum,  (b)  contribution  curriculum,  (c)  bifocal  curriculum,  (d)  women’s  curriculum,  and  (e)  gender-­‐balanced  curriculum.      o Male-­‐Defined  Curriculum:  is  curriculum  that  assumes  the  male  experience  is  universal,  that  

knowledge  is  articulated  by  and  about  men.    For  example,  some  scientists  note  problems  that  arise  when  generalizations  are  made  about  sex  differences  for  females,  when  the  experiment  was  only  performed  on  men.    

o Contribution  Curriculum:  Is  a  curriculum  that  inserts  missing  women  into  history’s  general  male  framework.    Examples  of  this  include  adding  women  like  Marie  Curie  because  she  performed  well  in  alignment  with  the  masculine  tradition.    Other  women  added  to  history  books  included  Molly  Pitcher  and  Clara  Barton  for  Civil  War  efforts.      

o Bifocal  Curriculum:  is  a  curriculum  that  function  around  dualities,  like  men  and  female.    Others  include  private  and  public,  agency  and  communion.    The  emphasis  is  on  complimentary  but  equal  views  of  the  two,  and  includes  a  focus  on  women’s  oppressions.    Various  scholars  have  published  work  that  highlight  women’s’  oppression.      

o Women’s  Curriculum:  is  curriculum  that  centers  around  the  idea  that  it  is  women’s  activities,  not  men’s,  that  should  set  precedence.    It  places  value  on  housework,  childbearing,  child  rearing,  female  sexuality,  female  friendship,  and  studies  in  the  female  life  cycle.    Women’s  education,  women’s  paid  work,  and  volunteer  work  outside  the  home  are  given  historical  importance.  Two  examples  of  women’s  history  include:  (1)  women  are  having  less  children;  (2)  the  change  of  women’s  roles  in  the  home  to  that  of  wives,  mothers,  and  paid  workers  outside  the  home.    

o Gender-­‐Balanced  Curriculum:  is  very  similar  to  the  women’s  curriculum,  but  it  also  addresses  how  men  and  women  relate  and  compliment  on  another.    One  example  from  the  text  is  a  study  done  by  a  teacher,  seeing  how  her  male  and  female  students  interact  with  one  another  on  the  playground.    

4) What  problems  do  the  contribution  and  bifocal  phases  have?    How  do  the  women’s  curriculum  and  gender-­‐balanced  curriculum  phases  help  solve  these  problems?  

 

©  Elizabeth  Wood            February  2013  

The  problem  with  contribution  curriculum  is  that  women  are  added  to  history,  but  not  content  acknowledging  their  historical  importance.    Bifocal  curriculum  focuses  on  both  male  and  female,  but  it  doesn’t  take  the  interaction  between  the  two  into  consideration.    The  women’s  curriculum  helps  solve  this  problem  by  shedding  light  on  the  importance  of  women  in  history  (not  simply  naming  them)  and  the  gender-­‐balanced  curriculum  highlights  the  interaction  between  genders.        

5) The  author  states  “knowledge  is  a  social  construction.”    What  does  this  mean?    In  what  ways  does  the  new  scholarship  on  women  and  ethnic  groups  challenge  the  dominant  knowledge  established  in  society  and  presented  in  textbooks?    

 This  terms  means  that  what  we,  as  a  society  and  culture,  change  what  we  deem  to  be  right  and  wrong,  truth  and  lie.    It  is  created  through  what  we  learn  and  know,  and  that  knowledge  is  ever-­‐changing  as  our  culture  continues.    Before,  the  white  male  version  was  the  only  accepted  account  of  history,  but  women  and  ethnic  groups  have  challenged  this,  demanding  to  be  represented  accurately  in  history.    Women  demanded  to  be  added  to  the  history  books,  and  not  simply  names  and  dates,  but  the  importance  of  their  work.        

6) What  is  the  longue  durée?    Why  is  it  important  in  the  study  of  social  history,  particularly  women’s  history?    Longue  durée  refers  to  “slow,  glacial  changes”  that  require  hundred  of  years  to  complete,  representing  shifts  in  the  way  people  think  (pg.  179).        Most  say  that  it’s  important  to  study  history  so  we  don’t  repeat  it.    I  think  this  applies  here,  but  I  also  think  it’s  important  to  study  women’s  history  because  it  helps  restore  a  huge  chunk  of  history  that  has  been  excluded.    It’s  important  to  give  credit  where  credit  is  due.  For  example,  there  are  many  female  authors  that  wrote  great  literary  works,  but  wrote  under  a  male  pen.    These  women  should  be  honored  for  their  hard  work.    It  also  helps  us  determine  our  future  if  we  can  analyze  our  past  and  understand  why  things  are  the  way  they  are.