ABSTRACT
Coming of age is reliant upon the cooperation of the community to allow entrance to an applicant. Still, the principles of heritage literacy, the passage of literacy knowledge longitudinally across generations and the adoption and adaptation of tools to embed them in their contexts, are present even when a person alienates themselves from his or her actual heritage. The Amish in this chapter could not have survived for so long when facing pressures to assimilate if they had not made a conscious effort to pass their systems of belief and lifestyle on to younger generations. The passing of literacy practices, including tools, technologies, and the value system of the community, does not always transfer easily to the next generation. What heritage literacy offers people is a means of looking upon the sometimes shifting landscapes of faith practices with understanding, and to show compassion on those youth who struggle between individual and group identity.
