ABSTRACT
Taken from a mid-1990s Newsweek editorial, these words were written by a young woman, now grown. Despite the passing of time, her argument continues to serve as a reminder of youthful communicative competence as well as the still viable complaint that youth are not given the respect they deserve in Western culture. As others have suggested, our negative connotation for the word adolescent provides strong hints of our culture’s dominant stance toward this age group (Lesko, 2000). Our collective lack of respect is also indicated by the poor instruction and limited curriculum innovation that persist in much of youth’s schooling (e.g., Cuban, 1993; Goodlad, 2004), despite promising alternative initiatives (e.g., Deschler, Schumaker, Lenz, Bulgren, Hock et al., 2001; Greenleaf, Schoenbach, & Cziko, 2001). Since the publication of this editorial, an increased emphasis on standards and high-stakes test performance in our educational climate sends new messages to our youth about the kinds of literacies that are valued. Some say that instructional initiatives in response to these concerns will help all youth toward greater literacy achievement, whereas others sug-
gest that such responses exacerbate existing challenges, especially for nonmainstream youth (Conley & Hinchman, 2004; Paul, 2004).
