DEPENDENCE UPON SYMBOLS HAS LONG BEEN THE MARK OF CIVILIZED MAN. ALTHOUGH THE MAJORITY OF US HAVE LITTLE TROUBLE IDENTIFYING AND EVALUATING THE REFERENTS OF PHYSICAL SYMBOLS, WE ARE LESS SURE WHEN DEALING WITH THE MORE SUBTLE TYPE OF SYMBOLS CALLED WORDS. WE KNOW THAT A WORD'S MEANING MAY VARY ACCORDING TO SPEAKER, WRITER, LISTENER, READER, OR SITUATION, BUT FEW OF US WERE TRAINED TO DETECT FACT FROM FICTION AND TO ADVISE OTHERS ABOUT THIS DISTINCTION. NEVERTHELESS, WE, AS ENGLISH TEACHERS, MUST BE OUR STUDENTS' INTERPRETERS OF THE WORLD THAT WORDS STAND FOR, AND, THEREFORE, TEACHING ONLY GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC IS INSUFFICIENT. SINCE TOMORROW'S CRITICS ARE IN OUR CLASSROOMS TODAY, LET US TEACH THEM ABOUT SEMANTICS AND THE SYMBOLIC PROCESS, AND SO PROVIDE THEM WITH THE LINGUISTIC INSIGHT TO HANDLE THE PROBLEMS COMMON TO ALL MEDIA. (THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE "ENGLISH JOURNAL," VOL. 43 (MARCH 1954), 130-34, 46.) (MM)