Unpacking Cultural Cost: “I don’t see much culture, it’s all really just math, math, math”

• In Event: Exploring Cultural Cost Among Students with Minoritized Identities Across Varying Sociopolitical Contexts

Abstract

Objectives and Framework
Drawing from Situated Expectancy Value Theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020), students may experience costs, (i.e., “subjective estimate of loss”) associated with an academic task (Luttrell et al., 2010, p. 146), which are associated with lower performance and persistence (Rozensweig et al., 2022). An underexplored yet important cost is cultural cost, which learners experience when course content lacks cultural relevance and/or is counter to historically marginalized students’ culture (Archer et al., 2022; Kumar et al., 2018). Experiencing cultural cost can negatively impact students’ well-being, motivation, and academic identity (Archer et al., 2022; Kumar, 2006; Martin, 2009). Further, during adolescence, identity becomes important in new, complex ways, and motivation dips (Rivas-Drake et al., 2014; Wang & Pomerantz, 2009). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand middle and high school students’ perceptions of cultural cost.

Method
We administered a survey to urban middle and high school students, including an open-response question related to cultural cost (See Table 7). We analyzed 76 students’ answers using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), focusing only on Students of Color.

Findings
Many students perceived their courses as acultural, particularly STEM courses. They wrote: “N/A” and “I don’t see much culture, it’s all really just math, math, math.” Other students did not mention cultures, identities, or how they felt: “I don’t really converse with others” or “I don’t know.” Other students mentioned they experienced cultural cost; for example, “Barely any [cultures/identities are discussed or present] and it makes me feel mad.” Not all students experienced cultural cost. Students shared: “I see cultures and identities that are important to me represented in [science class] and it is exciting to me.” and “We use our cultures in projects, so we can be aware of the identities in our classroom.” Lastly, a few students identified white culture and identities as present, but not their own: “I don't really see a lot of different cultures but there is more than European history.” and “I see some culture but mostly white culture and just a little bit of black/African culture which is disappointing to me as an black person.”

Significance
Our findings extend and align with previous work related to cultural cost and acultural perceptions (Archer et al., 2022). Importantly, our study affirms that students experienced negative emotions when experiencing cultural cost and wanted more representation. Further, we began to directly address Kumar et al.’s (2018) call for more research exploring if all Students of Color experience cultural cost. Our findings revealed that Black, Latine, and/or Asian students in our sample experienced cultural cost. Methodologically, this study offers important insight for collecting cultural cost data as there is no established instrument. For example, students often wrote “I don’t know” and one student wrote “I don’t know how to answer.” Given these students were adolescents, they are still developing skills to think more abstractly (Dumontheil, 2014); therefore, asking more directly and explicitly or having an in-depth conversation through interviews may yield answers specific to cultural cost.

Authors

• Korinthia D. Nicolai, Indiana University

• Alison C. Koenka, University of Oklahoma

• David Bryant Naff, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Danielle N. Berry, University of Oklahoma

• Amanda Vite, University of Southern California