Remedial, illiterate, intellectually deficient-these are the stigmas that define America's educational underclass. As a child in a Los Angeles ghetto, Mike Rose shared these labels; today he works with educationally underprepared children and adults in order to give them a fair chance at learning. In Lives on the Boundary, Rose describes his innovative methods of awakening untapped potential and initiating "problem" students into the world of language, literature, and expression. Challenging educators, policymakers, and parents to re-examine their assumptions about the capacities of students, Rose offers a truly democratic vision, one that should be heeded by anyone concerned with America's future. "A mirror to the many lacking perfect grammar and spelling who may see their dreams translated into reality after all" Book jacket.