James A. Banks (2009) article, Human Rights, Diversity, and Citizenship Education

I have decided that my first post will be about the James A. Banks (2009) article, Human Rights, Diversity, and Citizenship Education. I found this article to be very relevant to the experiences I have daily when working for a mental health agency in Chittenden County, VT. My clients attend schools throughout this county, and it is apparent that there are cultural differences from school to school, and even classroom to classroom.

This article highlighted the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and how educators should take the opportunity to consider how they should “consider the implications of the UDHR for educating citizens in multicultural democratic nations” (Banks, p. 100).

I appreciated how Banks discussed how we, as educators, need to transition to reinforcing the idea of being a “multicultural citizen” (Banks, 106). None of us have one culture we belong to, even if we have lived in the United States our entire life. Culture is a broad spectrum, and to try and limit ourselves doesn’t do our identities justice and reinforces the idea that we should live in a monoculture.

Moving forward, I want to try to incorporate the idea of “multicultural citizen” in my every day work (Banks, 106).  I think constantly asking the questions “What is culture?” and “How can I best support my clients’ culture?” is the strategy I will use to increase my awareness of the importance of this topic.