The alignment of optical emission along the axis of radio emission in high redshift radio galaxies is now commonly observed. In many cases this aligned component can be shown to be significantly polarized, a result that has led to models for the emission that employ scattering of light emitted from the AGN. Both electron scattering and dust scattering have been proposed, but one aspect of dust scattering that has not been explored previously is the response of the dust grains to the passage of the strong shock associated with the radio source. The survival of dust grains in such an environment after the passage of a high speed shock associated with the radio jet is calculated for a wide range of parameters. It is found that for most configurations the grains are destroyed as a scattering population by sputtering processes in a time much less than the minimum radio source lifetime of ∼ 10 million years. Thus polarization due to scattering by anin situpopulation of grains is somewhat problematic. Alternate methods for providing the needed grain population, either by grain replenishment via outward convection from a dust-rich galactic interior or by local production from a population of stars formed by passage of the radio jet are described. ©1999 American Institute of Physics.