Being able to make decisions is important for all students. Students need to have opportunities to choose from among alternative situations. Reading, as one curriculum area, provides a plethora of opportunities to choose and to select. The philosopher John Locke believed the following facets of an individual's development were in the ensuing order of importance: being virtuous, such as living a decent life; possessing wisdom to determine choices in life; having good breeding, such as showing good manners and working well with others; and achieving knowledge. This paper contends that reading instruction can definitely make contributions so that students may achieve each of those above named objectives. The paper discusses in turn: sustained silent reading and making decisions; personalized reading and making decisions; the psychology of learning and personalized reading; and the philosophy of reading instruction (such as measurement-driven instruction; reading for problem solving; perennialism; and existentialism). (Contains 11 references.) (NKA)