The "back to basics" movement has mistakenly pushed drama to the periphery of the school program. Direct communication of verifiable facts, once again so valued, actually militates against the personal creation of meaning. Always subjective, meaning develops through individuals' active encounters with events or situations--never through detachment. Providing children with the opportunity to react honestly to novel situations, drama encourages the creation of personal meaning. Not merely a cognitive skill but a process involving the whole person, dramatic play requires that students at once identify with the characters they are playing and recognize that they are acting a role. Thus it fuses subjective and objective understanding. By helping children to conceive of and experience their own feelings and to reflect on them, drama encourages the creation of true symbols. Only through the use of true symbols is the creative conferring of meaning achieved. (MM)