what is english? translation and democracy

As an undergraduate English major back in Maryland, I came out of college believing that English (and education generally) was primarily about living "the examined life." And I still believe that. In class on Monday, we discussed English as "personal growth." But it goes so far beyond the individual, doesn't it? On my list of or "What is English?" ideas, I wrote about English as a tool for democracy. This has been a dominant theme in my teaching over the years: education as a platform for creating citizens who are not only careful "readers" of the world, but who are also empowered to "write" their world. Which bring me back to Myers' and the aims of translation/critical literacy:

"This goal in English of establishing a cultural conversation based on democratic principles has become, for many, one of the central goals of English... an effort to prepare citizens for engagement in productive public discourse" (p. 147).

And how do we go about teaching this? An essential piece to the English curriculum is what Myers describes as the ability to "translate" between different sign systems. We do this a lot in my classroom, moving frequently and fluently between choices for reporting, painting, mapping, modeling, drawing, drama, etc. to show what we know. But there is another aspect to this translating business, I think, that is key to democracy. And that is the ability to translate between what happens in the classroom and outside of it, to reading the texts of school and reading the text of the world at large. Not just as preparation for 'real life,' but as the practice of it. For example, when we create a class business that raises for money for a community project. When we create poems or plays to entertain old folks at the retirement center down the street. When students participate in action projects to start recycling on campus or to educate their peers about global warming. This is translation, isn't it?

I'm tacking this idea of translation on to my "what is English" list and my "what does it mean to be a better reader" list. If I can't translate, for example, between this Myers book and my actions and experiences in the future, it would be lost. He does give suggestions here and there about how t/c literacy might look in practice. I'd like more translation here...