The topic of illiteracy in the United States is discussed by five people in this transcript of "Options on Education." These five, each of whom approaches illiteracy in a different way, are George Weber, Associate Director of the Council for Basic Education; Mike Smith, Director for Essential Skills of the National Institute of Education; J. Glenn Beall, United States Senator and cosponsor of a new National Reading Improvement Program; Ruth Love Holloway, Director of Right to Read; and Jeanne Chall, professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education and author of "Learning to Read: the Great Debate." Topics discussed include basic and functional illiteracy, when and how (whole word and phonics approaches) reading is taught, automatic decoding, motivation for reading, the Right to Read project, the money spent by federal reading programs, the use by schools of textbooks and other reading materials, and ways in which parents can determine whether children are having reading difficulties. (JM)