Cultural Incongruities and Inequities of Schooling: Implications for Practice from Ethnographic Research?

Abstract

Ethnographic studies, like all research studies, provide no easy answers about what teachers should do. Zeuli and Floden support that general point by showing the complexities surrounding issues of cultural congruity. Although ethnographic studies sometimes reveal ways in which incongruity contributes to inequity, the research does not imply that teachers should always promote cultural congruity. Unless teacher educa tors understand the problems underly ing endorsements of cultural congruity, they may contribute to the miseducation of future teachers and their students.