Literacy with an Attitude Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest 2nd Edition

Winner of the 2010 Critics Choice Award presented by the American Educational Studies Association The classic, indispensable guide for teachers, parents, and community organizers concerned with educating working-class children, Literacy with an Attitude dares to define literacy as a powerful right of citizenship. Patrick J. Finn persuasively debunks the time-honored paradigm for teaching poor and working-class students. Our job, he argues, is not to help such students to become middle class and live middle-class lives—most don't want it. Education rather should focus on a powerful literacy—a literacy with an attitude—that enables working-class and poor students to better understand, demand, and protect their civil, political, and social rights. This tenth-anniversary, second edition features eight new chapters and a revised and updated original text.