ABSTRACT
Young adult learners are in a state of negotiating between their play world and the expectations of becoming adults. School appears to be the last place that encourages self-expression and cultural/critical imaginations. The state of limbo between the two eras of student life is the very place in which cultural/critical literacy should find a place. Younger students (e.g., elementary school level) and their teachers are consumed by a multitude of cultural worlds while at the same time consuming the knowledge, values, beliefs, histories, structures, and representations of culturally constructed worlds based on gender, race, class, age, sexuality, and so forth. Most likely, young adult students are at a point where they have consumed most of the knowledge and beliefs about their world that will carry them into and through their adult life. Therefore, school, as an educational site, confirms the statement that knowledge is to be consumed by young adults as areas of specialization or disciplined knowledge, e.g., science, math, arts, and humanities. This places young adult students in a position where they are mainly, if not consistently, consumers of knowledge instead of creators of knowledge.
