ABSTRACT
We are supposed to be able to ask questions-that is how we open up public dialogue in a democracy, engage more critically in civic life and strive for social justice. But, in this current social moment, parents, students, and teachers know very well that the freedom to ask questions, especially about literacy teaching and learning, does not extend to everyone. It is, instead, a classified privilege, available to certain individuals, at certain times, for certain purposes. To question brings into sharp focus the blurred reality of non-negotiable agendas and undisclosed power. It is wielded by those in positions of authority, but procured from those who are not. In this chapter, we consider these problems as they relate to the mandated implementation of Success for All at a barrio public elementary school, in the rural southern borderlands of New Mexico. Forbidding parents, students, and teachers to ask questions, keeping them from speaking out, are acts of coercion, a degradation of their humanity. We examine what is not being heard about Success for All, and how such unwanted discourse is interrupted, preempted, silenced.
