This book suggests that first graders could express themselves on paper more easily and naturally if they were taught the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.). The chapters take up (1) the neglect of writing skills in a reading-oriented nation, (2) a comparison of the writing performance of students who learned the i.t.a. with that of students who learned traditional orthography in the early grades, (3) the stifling effect of the Dick and Jane basal-reader system upon young writers, (4) the failure of departments and graduate schools of English to encourage a "common-sense sequence of elementary-writing instruction," (5) the value of a writing-oriented curriculum based on the i.t.a. in facilitating the intellectual and emotional development of the beginning student, (6) the advantages of the writing-oriented curriculum, and (7) the objections raised by reading-oriented education specialists when attempts are made to introduce writing skills into the school curriculum. (JM)