Perspective on how English professors and English departments can engage professionally and meaningfully in the education of impoverished children is provided through the recounting of a number of experiences in related situations. A discussion with a college literature class about how best to recruit and instruct college-level black students precedes a description of experiences dealing with children in a nursery school group in which one member was a brain-damaged child. The concluding portion examines (1) teacher self-examination to improve the quantity and quality of literacy instruction, (2) visits to all types and levels of schools to determine best instructional practices, and (3) listening to students and teachers to effect attitude changes, as the best procedures for selecting an effective English curriculum for a boys' reform school. (AF)