Changes wrought in reading instruction and education in the last decade have not really been changes but merely old ideas in new packages. Many think that the key to a true revolution in education lies in technology, but technology itself does not change the quality of instruction and may in fact diminish it. The more basic and useful issue relevant to the reading program problem today has to do with ways in which the reading and language skills can be expanded and integrated into broader and more significant contexts. The author describes projects in which he worked with dropouts in Boston, with several American Indian tribes, and with disadvantaged urban dwellers. He called these programs a series of small revolutions in education and underscored the importance of learning how to make choices through education as the persons in those projects were shown. People must have information in order to make choices. They gain their information from reading. And reading is more than books and pacers and some technological gadgetry. Life and language experiences of the learner must be incorporated into reading programs. (NH)