Classroom teachers' cultural schemata become important factors when they use them as the standard or yardstick to instruct culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse (CLED) students. However, when teachers' yardstick is comprised of limited cross-cultural knowledge and experiences, they cannot gauge the true learning potential of CLED students. This ineptness in conjunction with "inflated power and status" results in teachers easily distorting, discounting, disparaging, and/or devaluing CLED students' language, cultural values, beliefs, motivation, aspirations, expectations, and/or intellectual abilities. Examples of how teachers' monistic cultural schemata result in negative outcomes are presented.