The English teaching profession must accept the fact that the new paradigm for composition involves microcomputers and word processors, and as such calls for a somewhat different set of skills on the part of both students and teachers. The "text editor" can lessen the effects of some physical and psychological constraints on students, allowing them to write more quickly and more closely to the language of their thoughts. Further, virtually any exposure to computers helps students learn to live with and to earn a living in a post-industrial technological society. To some, however, it still seems somehow petty, even perverse, to let an electronic device based upon simple binary code determine the form and sometimes the content of complex interhuman communication. But the rest of the world will not wait for educational leaders to make pronouncements upon the worthiness of every mechanical and technological advance, and the majority of students will end up not at the heads of classrooms, but in business and industry. It is hard to find a professional journal without encountering at least a few good words about computer assisted instruction. On-screen writing is a convenience to students and a powerful draw into the composing and revising process, but less promising for drill-and-practice and tutorials. This advanced technology should not be attached to an old and worn pedagogy. The English teaching profession's strides into the world of microcomputers must be sure as well as swift. (HTH)