Literacy and the Great Divide

Terence G. Wiley has done a comprehensive overview in laying out the differences between the autonomous orientation (literacy as a set of skills acquired by individuals in a formal approach), the social practices orientation (literacy learned in environments that inform the approaches and contexts of learning) and the ideological orientation (emphasizing the role of socio-economic powers and its influence on literacy and its acquisition) so that he can then present a clear presentation of how each of these orientations stacks up beside the cognitive divide theory, which maintains that writing as a skill has successfully divided societies into those that have the skills and those that don't.
I enjoyed the challenges these comparisons brought me concerning the idea that "orality" is somehow substandard, and Ong in particular has taken on the analysis of how different the oral mind is from the literate one. I found the autonomous orientation to be insufficiently contextualized to deal with the complexities that literacy acquisition presents today for educators, although it is very clear that economic opportunity rests on one rather than the other.
The social practices orientation is far more filled out, and is able to factor in the assets that "orality" brings, something that has been overlooked, with Scribner and Cole presenting evidence from the Vai of Liberia that brings in more nuance of how orality and literacy can merge and succeed for a people.
The ideological orientation is the one that interested me the most, as it brings in the enormous factor of social power and its influences, which factored in with the social practices approach, presents a more total picture of multi-lingual, inter-cultural challenges that are growing every day. Erickson in particular brings the evidence forward clearly as to how the system perpetuates itself in order to survive, and that challenges are met with resistance. To me, this is where the serious work lies, as we are obligated to find ways to present viable alternatives as necessities, not simply desires, if we are to advance into the 21st century with viable, functioning societies that allow for diversity and the responsibility of a wide range of literacy skills and opportunities.