This study examines the evolution of adult literacy education policy in the United States over the past three centuries through the lens of Brian Street’s (1984) ideological and autonomous models of literacy. Until the turn of the 20th century, ideological models of literacy flourished in the United States. As a result of changing definitions of literacy and more strict federal policies, at present, the autonomous model prevails.
Economically-motivated adult literacy education policies have altered the nature and purpose of adult literacy programs. Government intrusion into adult education has forced both individuals and community-based providers to relinquish their decision-making authority. In addition, government-imposed expectations and accountability requirements often supersede the individual learners’ power to set their own goals. What was once an area of education driven by adult learners’ thirst for knowledge and self-improvement is increasingly guided by top-down, economically-motivated policies that eliminate the power of individuals to mandate their own educational pursuits in adulthood.
The autonomous model of literacy does not allow for critical engagement with social issues because it does not recognize them. Literacy in the autonomous model is tied to the dominant social structures in society. If other forms of literacy are excluded from schooling, the dominant social structures cannot be upset; social hierarchies remain in place, and non-dominant groups continue to experience oppression, even if they do not recognize it as such.
The autonomous model of literacy has become entrenched in the American adult literacy education system. However, adult literacy educators should not become complicit in this act of oppression. Instead, they should make every attempt to continue to promote ideological principles in their classrooms. Although this is clearly a different era from the colonial period and industrialization, educators in the Information Age must encourage their students to engage in controversial social issues and explore the power differentials in society tied to different forms of literacy so that they can take back their power in the adult literacy classroom and use educational endeavors to solve their own problems and fulfill their own purposes.