The three articles in this journal issue focus on the real meaning of competency in reading and writing. The first article, "Minimums and Optimums," argues against the establishment of minimum competency tests and for an increase in instructional time. "Placement Testing: The Objective Irrelevant," the second article, maintains that the standardized tests used for placing students in college composition classes should be abolished and that a system based on a "placement essay" be devised instead. The final article, "Some of My Best Friends Are Interpreters," calls for literary interpreters to adopt a more "personal" tone and to become more self-conscious about the role they perform and about the reasons that they perform it. The journal also contains book reviews and a report on the back-to-basics movement in Kansas. (FL)