4 Knowing depends on engagement in practice Only in the classroom is knowledge presented in the abstract, and only in the classroom are people expected to demonstrate knowledge through abstract performances. Learners must be able to learn as they engage in new activity, and as they move into new settings. This entails figuring out what the characteristics of the situation are, what its relations is to situations that they already know, what there is to learn, and what new knowledge they need in order to be able to participate productively in the situation. Meaningful participation in a community involves the power to affect the life of that community. Learning requires access and opportunity.
People have difficulty learning when they are only accorded marginal or tentative membership.
Limited privileges of participation do not entail rights to contribute and make meaning, hence do not provide opportunities for engaged learning. This deeper perspective requires a more textured understanding of the means and implications of discrimination and exclusion. We already have a society of lifelong learners People are learning all the time, but what they are learning is not necessarily in their best interests or in the best interests of society.