This journal issue addresses itself to the humanism versus back to basics controversy in education by focusing on its relationship to reading skills. The eight articles explore the following issues: (1) the importance of reading skills as a foundation for any type of curriculum; (2) the necessity of some balance between teaching basic skills and the humanistic application of those skills; (3) the inhibiting effect of prescribed reading programs on children's creativity and spontaneous desire to learn; (4) approaches to teaching comprehension of literature beyond the usual decoding skills; (5) the significance of the reader's subjectivity in responding to teaching methods; (6) the actual extent to which the population of the United States is illiterate; (7) the role of "reality therapy" with students for whom basic skills approaches are not suited; and (8) the intrinsic polarity between humanism and competency in educational strategies. (HTH)