ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how elements of student identity such as race, class, and gender among a myriad of other complicated, overlapping identities including first-generation college and nontraditional student status can adversely influence motivation, resulting in active and passive resistance in the classroom. The ramifications of hidden curricula, in regard to student resistance, can be explored through oppositional culture theory, proposed by Fordham and Ogbu. They claimed that societal gender inequality in the workplace can be traced back to gender bias in the elementary classroom. Specifically, the author calls for a reexamination of dominant societal sexual mores, arguing that the promotion of virginity and chastity among young women in the United States is destructive and misplaces genuine self-worth. White studied minority students in the context of discussion-based classroom participation and found that participants demonstrated reluctance to speak because of a perceived sense of exclusion from academic discourse, despite awareness that their grades would be negatively affected.
