This article is a materialist philosophical and historical analysis of the current policy focus on early intervention programmes for print literacy. It documents the direct impact of economic and cultural globalization and new technologies on the material conditions for adolescence and youth. We argue that educational systems and government policies are struggling with the consequences of these changes: new forms of identity, technological competence and practice, and new life pathways for children and adolescents. The case is made that the current enthusiasm for early intervention programs is a ‘rhetorical displacement’ that attempts to solve the problems of unruly adolescence and the emergence of the ‘techno-subject’ through an ‘inoculation’ model dedicated to the restoration and preservation of print-based early childhood.
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