The report of the “Conference on Basic Issues in the Teaching of English” states clearly the motives for studying “English,” and presents thirty-five interrelated issues (together with their complex implications). The conferees defined an “issue” as an unsettled point on which the possibility of taking opposed positions exists, and on which agreement is likely to be difficult. The mission of the Conferences was to define such issues, to present them as showing the parlous situation into which the teaching of English in the United States has drifted, and to provide a basic “work paper” for concentrating the attention of members of the profession on developing solutions. If no constructive action is taken upon the issues, “English” as a subject will continue to lose definition and become a loose catch-all for assorted topical interests. We will then face the dissolution in the schools of an impressive literary heritage, as well as of achievements in precise organized written expression, so necessary for everyone in our society.