ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author talks about Tim Slekar's response to S. G. Grant's commentary. In his answer to the chapter's central question, S. G. Grant offers three useful metaphors for standards' roles as policy instruments, in addition to the well-known "uncertain lever" metaphor he coined years ago when discussing the implications of state-level testing for social studies education. The author first commend Grant for taking on an important social studies policy question in such an accessible way, with care, precision, and substance—all trademarks of his scholarship throughout his career. In the following rejoinder, he addresses Grant's three metaphors and suggests a path toward affecting policy activity, from state to classroom levels, in the present. Scholars like Grant need to continue providing razor-sharp analyses of policy implications in their work so that others—like me—can take that work and breathe a different kind of life into it; a political life.
