Chapter 17: Nice Girls Become Teachers: Experiences of Female First-Generation College Students Majoring in Elementary Education

This chapter presents findings from a qualitative research project investigating the experiences of a group of first-generation, working-class female college students in a teacher education program. The discussion focuses on the ways the students negotiate the multiple communities they are a part of from the standpoint of their locally-situated, economic, social, and gendered selves. Interviews with a group of these students reveal issues the students face in their everyday lives, such as the debate of whether, when, and where to speak one’s mind; ways to deal with the expectations of traditional gender roles; and how to work and live within varying social-class settings with different expectations.