The first part of this address given at the second annual Reading Conference (Montclair, December 1971) offers alternative answers to the question, "In this age of multi-sensory media from which we can learn of the past, the present, and the future in other ways than the written word, must everyone learn to read?" Data from recent research reports by Edmund J. Farrell, Jean Symmes, Judith L. Rapport, and the author are offered as support for the position that reading is not as essential for today's children as it was for their parents. The last portion of the address talks about a number of ways to help poor or non-readers learn--for example, through the use of films, slides, records, cassettes, simulation games, video tape, photographs, and computer-assisted instruction. (TO)