Teachers bring their own cultural values and experiences to school and identify these as factors that helped them meet their goals and define who they are. These values may give teachers a preconceived notion of what success is or should be. Teachers’ cultural values and experiences also provide an image of what success looks like and what it does not. When teachers encounter someone, who does not fit into that image of success, a cultural mismatch may occur.
Research shows that if the authority in the classroom views students as being culturally deprived or disadvantaged, they may approach instructing those students with limitations and not push or challenge them as they may do for others.
The belief that students of different races are fundamentally different from one another is based on the belief that white, middle class responses and opinions are the norm.
Researchers have concerns about culture differences especially with white, middle class, female teachers and the students of color in their classrooms. “The interactions between teachers who expected ‘the norm’ and students who were not ‘the norm’ were described as problematic, and as contributing to the academic failure of the students of colour.” Students who do not conform to the teacher’s norm may have trouble in that teacher’s class.