Hi everyone,
Welcome to the blacademics blog! I intend for this space to be a more spontaneous and relaxed way to get my thoughts out on life and current events. This doesn’t mean I won’t incorporate research and education, just that the overall vibe will be a bit more relaxed.
I think it’s important to explain the guiding theories that inform all of my work, starting with Cultural Discontinuity. This is adapted from the work I’ve done in my bachelor’s degree!
Theory 1: Cultural Discontinuity
Education in the United States is white. Like, really white. The vast majority of teachers both in public schools (82%) and post-secondary schools (76%) are white (Davis & Fry, 2019), compared an increasingly majority non-white student population, according to the National Center for Education Statistics in 2021. White Americans disproportionately enact cultural influence in the education system, according to Derald Wing Sue and David Sue’s theory of ethnocentric multiculturalism (Sue, 2004; Sue & Sue, 2003). Sue and Sue define ethnocentric multiculturalism as “the individual, institutional, and cultural expression of the superiority of one group’s cultural heritage (e.g., its values, language, customs and practices) over another combined with the possession of power to impose those standards” (p. 71). In this way, it is similar to cultural racism, in that a dominant group’s perceived superiority is reinforced at both the individual and broader institutional levels (Jones, 1997). Put simply, American educational systems are informed and enacted by white people.
The dominant white culture means that American education often fails to recognize minority differences (Goldring, Gray, & Bitterman, 2013; Hillard, 1995). White teachers are presumed to present and validate their own eurocentric behaviors and values, which differ from those of ethno-racial minority groups (Baker, 2005; Boykin, Tyler, & Miller, 2005; Delpit, 2006; Sue, 2004). This misalignment is what creates cultural discontinuity, which is defined as “a school-based behavioral process where the cultural value-based learning preferences and practices of many ethnic minority students—those typically originating from home or parental socialization activities—are discontinued at school” (Tyler et al., 2008, p. 281). Although Ogbu (1982) suggests that all students exhibit some level of cultural discontinuity or ‘culture shock’ in the transition from home to school, but that this shock is considered more pronounced in minority groups (Gay, 2005; Ladson-Billings, 1995a, 1995b; Nieto 1999).
Cultural discontinuity is now included in discussions of educational disparities of ethno-racial minorities. Researchers hypothesize that students feeling aligned with the cultural contexts of their schools will feel more motivated and subsequently more successful (Hudley & Daoud, 2008; Warzon & Ginsburg-Block, 2008). Conversely, misalignment may contribute to poor academic and psychological outcomes for ethno-racial minority groups, including symptoms of stress and low-levels of mastery of academic material (Cholewa & West-Olatunji, 2008; Deyhle, 1995; Lui, 2015). For African American students in particular, cultural discontinuity is thought to contribute to apathy, academic disengagement, and school discontent (Irvine-Jordan et al., 2000).
When marginalized people don’t feel represented or respected in educational contexts, they disengage. Frankly, I can’t blame them! Why would you buy into a system that so clearly doesn’t consider your values or experiences important? Part of what I want to achieve with blacademics is making education and research culturally accessible to a larger demographic of people.
Works Referenced (in alphabetical order)
Baker, P. B. (2005). The Impact of Cultural Biases on African American Students’ Education: A Review of Research Literature Regarding Race Based Schooling. Education and Urban Society, 37(3), 243–256.
Boykin, A. W. (1983). The academic performance of Afro-American children. Achievement and achievement motives, 321-371.
Cholewa, B., West-Olatunji, C. (2008). Exploring the relationship among cultural discontinuity, psychological distress, and academic outcomes with low-income, culturally diverse students. Professional School Counseling, 12(1), 54-61.
Davis, L., & Fry, R. (2019, July 31). College faculty have become more racially and ethnically diverse, but remain far less so than students. Pew Research Center.
Delpit, L. (2006). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, NY: The New Press.
Deyhle, D. (1995). Navajo youth and Anglo racism: Cultural integrity and resistance. Harvard Educational Review, 65, 403-444.
Gay, G. (2005). Politics of multicultural teacher education. Journal of teacher education, 56(3), 221-228.
Goldring, R., Gray, L., & Bitterman, A. (2013). Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results from the 2011-12 Schools.
Hillard, A. (1995). The maroon with us: Selected essays on African American community socialization. Baltimore: Black Press.
Hudley, C., Daoud, A. M. (2008). Cultures in contrast: Understanding the influence of school culture on student engagement. In Hudley, C., Gottfried, A. E. (Eds.), Academic motivation and the culture of school in childhood and adolescence (pp. 187-220). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Irvine-Jordan, J., Armento, B., Causey, V., Jones, J., Frasher, R., & Weinburgh, M. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Lesson planning for elementary and middle grades. New York: McGraw Hill.
Jones, J. M. (1997). Prejudice and racism (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491.
Lui, P. P. (2015). Intergenerational cultural conflict, mental health, and educational outcomes among Asian and Latino/a Americans: Qualitative and meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 141, 404-446.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.
Nieto, S. (2015). The light in their eyes: Creating multicultural learning communities. Teachers College Press.
Ogbu, J. U. (1982). Cultural discontinuities and schooling. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 13(4), 290-307.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2003). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Sue, D. W. (2004). Whiteness and ethnocentric monoculturalism: making the” invisible” visible. American Psychologist, 59(8), 761.
Tyler, K. M., Uqdah, A. L., Dillihunt, M. L., Beatty-Hazelbaker, R., Conner, T., Gadson, N., Henchy, A., Hughes, T., Mulder, S., Owens, E., Roan-Belle, C., Smith, L., & Stevens, R. (2008). Cultural Discontinuity: Toward a Quantitative Investigation of a Major Hypothesis in Education. Educational Researcher, 37(5), 280–297.
Warzon, K. B., Ginsburg-Block, M. (2008). Cultural continuity between home and school as a predictor of student motivation: What we know, what we need to learn, and implications for practice. In Hudley, C., Gottfried, A. E. (Eds.), Academic motivation and the culture of school in childhood and adolescence (pp. 121-145). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.