Reading Affiliated Alternatives Students’ Text as Authentic and Dialogic
At that core of dialogism is the belief that all texts respond to other texts. We can see first of all that the Affiliated Alternatives students’ letter to the editor exists as a material response to Kubek’s letter. The material reality of the students’ letter—and especially the fact that it was eventually printed in the local newspaper—holds significance for Affiliated Alternatives students and emphasizes the letter’s authenticity—its purpose and meaning. The subject of the letter, teen Clearance MBT Shoes parenthood, is also a “real” subject to these students, and several students expressed an awareness that people in the larger society often find fault with the choices that they, as teen mothers, have made in their lives.
The opening line of the students’ letter, “We know people think that we get special attention in the School Age Parent (SAPAR) and other programs at the Affiliated Alternative school” references the theme of “enabling poor choices” that runs throughout Kubek’s letter. Within their letter, the students make a smart move—a dialogic move—with Kubek by positing the idea that the students’ experience at Affiliated Alternatives may indeed assist them in “getting help now rather than [having] to depend on others for the rest of our lives” (rather than enable future poor choices, as Kubek suggests). As is clear in the letter the students author, authentic writing—writing that is purposeful, meaningful, and engaging—goes hand in hand with dialogic principles of reading and writing text, thereby emphasizing the ways that all texts work to respond to other texts.
Affiliated Alternatives students also pose a strong rhetorical question in their letter when they ask: “Isn’t it better to get a little help now than have to depend on others for the rest of our lives?” This question responds directly to Kubek’s letter.In fact, the students’ statement challenges his claims by calling attention to the lack of validity in his understanding of responsibility. The Cheap MBT Shoes nature of the students’ response—a response that references the claims his letter makes yet does not overtly chastise Kubek’s views—enables the students to urge Kubek (and readers who agree with him) to rethink his initial stance. The dialogic stance they take throughout their letter is purposeful and has real connections to how Affiliated Alternatives students, as a group of teen mothers, students, and adolescents, feel they are perceived by society.
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