Drawing upon arguments from the sociology of work and from debates about literacy, this paper explores the connection between schooling, work, and language through an ethnographic analysis of school and community in a rural, northeastern United States setting. The paper presents evidence of a disjunction between schooling and adult work and between schooling and experiences with literature, challenging the school's self-understood mission. The paper concludes that educators should stop assuming that schooling leads to adult work and should recognize and cultivate student self-direction. (Fifty-nine references are attached.) (Author/RS)