A study examined the view of literacy as a socially constructed phenomenon situated within a culturally reproductive milieu. Within the context of one medium-sized comprehensive high school in a small city in the Midwest, the focus was on the daily classroom practice in teaching and learning to read and write. Four separate classes--two low track, one average, and one anomalous group, repeaters--under the tutelage of one teacher were observed to ascertain how students and teacher socially constructed their meanings of what it means to be a literate person. Methodologies were participant observation, ethnographic interviews, and audio- and videotaping. Findings suggest that differing curricula and pedagogies for each track produced different outcomes, with lower tracks receiving less valued knowledge and less instruction in how to talk about knowledge in acceptable (in terms of schooling) ways. This insured that most students identified as remedial were taught in a way that resulted in their forever being identified that way: they learned to be remedial. (Forty-six references are attached.) (KEH)