Culture Matters! African American Students: White Community College Teachers: A Case Study Of Cultural Differences And Their Consequences

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine African American student pedagogical experiences in classrooms with White teachers at a community college in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The intent of the study was two-fold: (a) to search for evidence of how culture shapes African American students' view of themselves, and (b) to explore how African American student pedagogical experiences with White teachers shape their attitude about school. This study focused on the experiences of six community college African American students' classroom experiences with White teachers. Erskine-Meusa's (2016) Continuum of Pedagogical Experiences and Cross' Negriscence Identity Model (1991) served as the conceptual framework for conducting this investigation. The researcher was the main research instrument for this narrative case study. The results of this study revealed that many of the White teachers experienced by the research participants demonstrated some aspect of colorblindness in their pedagogical practices. The results also found that the African American community college students in this study valued the use of culturally responsive pedagogy in the classroom. The practice of using culture and being a caring teacher enhanced the learning experiences of the African American students in this study. Finally, the study revealed that the African American students who were at the internalization stage of the CNIM tended to be more vulnerable to school wounds.