This chapter discusses the problems with essentialist approaches to culture and explores an alternative, dialogic, approach to the problem of "cultural mismatch". There are at least two different types of approaches to the notion of "culture" that are used in educational research and practices. The chapter argues that the essentialist type of approaches to culture, although useful at times, can lead to unilateral pedagogies while the dialogic approach to culture promotes collaboration and dialogue among the teacher and the students. The proponents of adult-run unilateralism argue that the students from non-mainstream and often economically and politically disadvantaged communities need to learn how to successfully navigate and operate in mainstream institutions that White middle-class teachers represent. The chapter describes that successful teachers often develop creole communities in their classrooms in response to perceived interactional and communicational breakdowns instead of using an essentialist perspective of pre-existing cultures.