Implementing multimedia in the high school language arts curriculum has become necessary so that teachers may build connections between the background knowledge of students and the printed texts that are thrust upon them. This idea comes from an area of research in cognitive science known commonly as schema theory, which contends that every…

Argues that national policy has imposed on American public education four different standards of literacy, each one more demanding than the one preceding it--signature, recitation, comprehension, and application. Suggests, also, that each standard, which had its root cause in the nation's economy and social structure, was initially applied only to…