Making People Our Policy: Grounding Literacy in Lives

In previous columns in this department, scholars have taken to task the decontextualized and dehumanizing policies of recent and current federal education policies in the United States. While deconstruction of these policies is crucial, these moves must be followed by reconstruction. In this edition of the Adolescent Literacy Policy column, Patrick Camangian discusses what it means to make literacy policy on the ground, to educate students to maximize their interactions in the world around them, and to redefine what it means to be a highly qualified teacher. He also provides concrete examples of literacy-based assignments that empower students to study self, society, and the world while identifying issues of privilege, social control, and oppression in society.