The Cultural Discontinuity Hypothesis: A Critical Review of Literature

Researchers that study cultural and psychological influences on learning and development have proposed that differences between the socialized practices of European Americans and those of particular racial and ethnic minority youth are, to some degree, potentially responsible for persistent Racial and ethnic minority youth underachievement in America. This phenomenon, known as Cultural Discontinuity, has great potential for identifying sources of difference between majority and minority educational experiences and more importantly, for finding particular methods for teaching students of various cultural backgrounds. The goal of this paper is two-fold: First, a review of the literature on the Cultural Discontinuity hypothesis (much of which can be found in the Tyler, et al. (2008) work) is discussed. Secondly, a discussion of next steps is offered, providing insight into what should also be considered with future study of this hypothesis.