An Example of the Transformation Approach

History textbooks are generally written by a particular group (historians, well-educated, white, upper middle class) who represent a limited perspective on events.  The following example is based on Banks, J. (1994) Transforming the mainstream curriculum, Educational Leadership, 51(8). 

When students used two published first person accounts of events relating to the Alabama bus boycott of 1955, a quite different picture emerged of the events relating to the boycott. While the textbook accounts often portray the boycott as a spur-of-the-moment event, the published first person accounts tell a different story. For example, according to first hand accounts, the boycott was not a spur-of-the-moment event. There had been long-term and widespread dissatisfaction with the bus system's abuses in the African-American community. There was a women's group that had planned a boycott and launched it at an opportune moment, and Rosa Park's reason for refusing to give up her seat was quite different than the reason usually given in textbooks.  Rosa Parks said,

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true.  I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day.  I was not old, although  some people have an image of me being old then, I was 42! No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

The driver of the bus saw me sitting there, and he asked was I going to stand up. I said, "No" He said, "Well I'm going to have you arrested." Then I said, "You may do that."  These were the only words we said to each other.

People have asked me if it occurred to me that I could be the case the NAACP had been looking for.  I did not think about that at all. In fact, if I had let myself think too deeply about what might happen to me, I might have gotten off the bus.  But I chose to remain."

Significant players in historical events can virtually be ignored in textbooks, like the women's group responsible for the boycott.  Most textbooks emphasize the work of men and their organizations like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph D. Abernathy. Multiple perspectives is one way of transforming the curriculum.

(The information above was based on Banks, J. (1988). Multiethnic education: Theory and practice (2nd ed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon.)

Discussion Questions: 

1.  Of Banks' four approaches, which one does your school take? 

2.  What would students learn from this specific example of the Transformation Approach described above?

You may submit your answers to the facilitator using either the downloadable document or p. 167 in your study guide.

Download the document in Microsoft Word format

 

 

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