Comparison Paper
Sierra Brooke
Ivy Tech Community College

Multicultural education is according to the book a comprehensive educational process, inclusive of diversity elements, that is rooted in the principle of equality and equity for all children. It challenges racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms the pluralism that students, their communities, and teachers represent. The models of multicultural education are in two different types: those based on specific approaches and theories and an analysis of existing experiences from classroom practices. Banks and Sleeter and Grant developed their idea models through the analysis of existing practices. Banks Levels of Integration is for multicultural education. Sleeter’s and Grant’s are for addressing human diversity. The theory based model is Derman-Sparks’ which is an anti-bias approach to multicultural education, with emphasis on fairness and equality. Bank’s Levels of Integration has four levels and approaches. Level 1- The Contributions Approach is when the teachers approach includes holidays, heroes, and artifacts. Topics are added to the regular curriculum. Level 2- The Additive Approach is when the curriculum stays the same but include the selected cultural themes. Themes are “added”. The teacher selects an ethnic topic and plans activities around it. Level 3- The Transformation Approach is when the curriculum does change. The theme, concept, skills and goals change. Level 4- The Decision-Making and Social Action Approach is the highest level and includes all of Banks approaches. Level 4 prepares children for social criticism and prepares children to become decision makers. The Sleeter and Grant typology for multicultural Education has 5 approaches. The five approaches are made upon their experience as educators and social scientists and their analyses of multicultural curricula. Approach 1: Teaching the Exceptional and the Culturally Different, Approach 2: Human Relations, Approach 3: Single-group studies, Approach 4: Multicultural education, Approach 5: Education that is multicultural and social reconstructionist. Phase 1 is exploring and thinking, phase 2 is making choices, phase 3 is activating ideas. The anti-bias approach when it comes to early childhood curriculum is centered on changing social inequalities. The purpose of this approach is to exterminate stereotypes that lead people to create cultural and prejudice biases. There are four goals when it comes to the anti-bias approach. The first is children’s cultural realities, experiences, behaviors, and interest. The second is the families’ interests, beliefs, and concerns for children. The third goal is societal events, messages, and realities that surround children. The final goal is the teacher’s