December 16, 1986

THE United States faces a serious deficit of young adults who read and write well enough to perform the complex technological, scientific and managerial tasks on which the nation's future depends. This does not mean that great portions of American are illiterate, as some sensational reports have suggested. It does mean that a level of literacy that may once have been sufficient is no longer good enough to keep the United States competitive. Large and growing segments of ethnic minority groups, espacially black and Hispanic Americans, do not attain the literacy essential for success in a labor market that demands advanced communication skills. Black and Hispanic students were found to write at ''substantially lower'' levels than whites and Asian Americans.

The head of a political action group that campaigned against Congressional opponents of military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels had a number of links to the White House, White House and other officials said today. But no evidence emerged to support allegations reported by a Massachusetts newspaper, The Lowell Sun, that some of the profits from arms sales to Iran had been diverted to right-wing groups. A senior aide to the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been heavily involved in the panel's investigation of the arms sales said that ''there's been no hint'' of any such diversion in the evidence the committee has amassed so far. In addition, officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who are looking into the allegations, said they had no corroborating evidence and described their inquiry as having a low priority. Briefing at White House The man at the center of the campaign issue, Carl R. Channell, who heads a number of conservative political groups, has denied that he received any Iranian money. His office reported today that he had left town and that none of his aides were available. His home telephone was answered by a recording machine that said he was not available.

The chairman and vice chairman of L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin Holdings Inc. have agreed to resign their positions at the investment bank because of ''differences of philosophy'' with the board of directors, the firm announced yesterday. Sources close to the firm said that tensions had been rising for some time. At a special board meeting last Friday, Thomas I. Unterberg, the firm's 56-year-old chairman, and A. Robert Towbin, its 51-year-old vice chairman, lost a critical vote on a proposal to accelerate L.F. Rothschild's expansion of its bond trading, mutual fund and corporate finance operations. Mr. Unterberg and Mr. Towbin had advocated slower expansion and a continuing emphasis on financing young, smaller companies, the sources said. Francois J.P. Mayer, 45, who will be moving up to co-chief executive from co-chief operating officer, said that the firm would soon consider changing its name to reflect the management changes, although no final decision had been made.

MOST young boys who persistently act like girls grow up to be homosexuals or bisexuals, a 15-year study of ''sissy boys'' has shown. According to the findings, neither therapy designed to discourage the extremely feminine behavior nor ideal child rearing could guarantee that the boys would develop as heterosexuals, although parental discouragement of the boys' girlish behavior tended to result in a more heterosexual orientation. Three-fourths of 44 extremely feminine boys followed from early childhood to adolescence or young adulthood matured as homosexuals or bisexuals, as against only one bisexual among a comparison group of more typically masculine boys. In many cases parents either overtly or subtly encouraged the feminine behavior. But when parents actively discouraged it and took other steps to enhance a male self-concept, homosexual tendencies of the feminine boys were lessened, although not necessarily reversed. Neither did professional counseling divert a tendency toward homosexuality, although it resulted in more conventional masculine behavior and enhanced the boys' social and pyschological adjustment and comfort with being male.

The first of the 3,800 apartments of the Lincoln Towers complex on West End Avenue between 66th and 70th Streets went on sale last night, marking the beginning of one of the largest and most expensive conversions of rental apartments to cooperatives in New York City's history. By the time the process ends next year, about $900 million worth of real estate will have been offered for sale. The 12,000 New Yorkers who live in the eight towers of the complex on the Upper West Side will have made one of the biggest economic decisions of their lives: should they buy their apartments and thus participate in the most expensive real-estate market in the United States, or should they continue to enjoy the security of the country's most complex system of rent regulation? The State Attorney General's office last week accepted the plan for filing, the last major legal step in the conversion process. The plan becomes effective if 15 percent of the apartments are purchased by tenants and outside buyers who will live there. The developers said they expected at least 50 percent of the units to be sold. Residents who choose not to buy their apartments may continue to rent them as long as they wish.

The Director of Central Intelligence, William J. Casey, was hospitalized today after suffering a ''minor cerebral seizure'' while conferring with his aides in his office, spokesmen at Georgetown University Hospital said. Mr. Casey, 73 years old, was taken by ambulance from Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va., just before noon, and he suffered a second seizure while he was in the radiology department, according to Dr. Jack Stapleton, medical director of the hospital. Mr. Casey had been scheduled to testify Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee on the secret weapons sale to Iran and the diversion of proceeds to Nicaraguan rebels. Dr. Stapleton said it was clear that Mr. Casey would not be able to appear. Tonight, Vice President Bush's office released a chronology showing a closer relationship between Mr. Bush's staff and the operation supplying arms to the Nicraguan rebels than had been acknowledged. [ Page A14. ] At Georgetown University Hospital, Dr. Stapleton said Mr. Casey was ''stable'' and ''resting comfortably,'' although he had some ''weakness of the right hand.''

Chemical New York's agreement to acquire Texas Commerce Bancshares Inc. for $1.1 billion is likely to touch off fresh bidding for other Texas banks, according to several banking analysts who predicted that more takeover announcements were possible within weeks, Chase Manhattan and Citicorp in New York, and First Interstate and Security Pacific in Los Angeles, are known to be exploring takeovers in Texas, the nation's third most populous state. So are NCNB and First Union, both of Charlotte, N.C. Allied Bancshares of Houston, with nearly $10 billion in assets and a comparatively strong retail network and solid loan portfolio, is considered the most likely candidate, said Frank W. Anderson, a bank analyst at Ferguson & Company in Dallas. ''We will see future transactions,'' he said. The bidding for Texas banks comes at a time when their loan portfolios are burdened with problems in the energy, agriculture and real estate industries.

An American these days might start his morning by putting in his contact lenses, switching on the television set, downing a glass of fruit juice and brewing coffee on the gas range. Then he might ride to work by subway to a plant making machine tools, automobile parts or perhaps even military rocket casings. He might end his day by popping open a can of beer, unaware that Soviet-bloc technology purchased by American companies had played a role in each of these activities. Soviet and East European inventions and innovations have found their way into a far smaller share of the American market than has technology from Western Europe and Japan, but the Kremlin has launched a major drive to catch up. More than 50 senior Soviet trade officials visited New York City last week to drum up business and convince Americans that the Soviet reputation for technological backwardness is unwarranted. At a time when political pressure is mounting against sales of technology to the Eastern bloc, the Soviet Union and its allies are seeking greater foreign exchange by increasing their trade with the West.

Henry C. Wallich, one of the Federal Reserve's most vigorous inflation fighters, resigned today from the regulatory body's seven-member board of governors because of poor health. Mr. Wallich, who is 72 years old, had been the longest-serving governor and was considered by many the Fed's leading authority on international finance. He has been in poor health since the fall of 1985 and has been absent from his office for the last two months. His resignation, which was effective today, comes with just over a year left in his 14-year term. Thus, the Fed's chairman, Paul A. Volcker, will soon be the only member not originally appointed by President Reagan. Mr. Volcker, appointed to the board of governors by President Carter, was reappointed to a four-year term as chairman by President Reagan in 1983.

Companies Chemical New York agreed to acquire Texas Commerce Bank for about $1.1 billion in one of the biggest bank mergers ever. Many analysts see the acquisition as a gamble by Chemical because of the Houston banking concern's losses from energy and real-estate loans. The agreement, made possible because of a recent Texas law allowing acquisitions by out-of-state banking companies, would make Chemical the nation's fourth-largest banking company. [ Page A1. ] The agreement is seen as likely to touch off fresh bidding for other Texas banks. [ D1. ] State legislatures are way ahead of the Congress in legalizing interstate mergers. [ D10. ] BankAmerica accused First Interstate of ''reckless'' conduct in its takeover quest, but First Interstate filed a registration statement with the S.E.C. seeking permission to go forward with a hostile exchange offer of $21 for each BankAmerica share. [ D1. ]

In the blocks around the 14th Regiment Armory in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn are well-kept Victorian brownstones, some with oak front doors and wrought-iron fences. Mothers stroll with babies in carriages, stopping to chat with their neighbors. Much has not changed in the nine months since the red-brick armory at 1402 Eighth Avenue became a shelter for the homeless. Other things have. Donna McGivney's daughter saw a woman urinating on the street a few months ago. Barbara O'Donnell's 12-year-old watched someone being led from the shelter in handcuffs. ''That kind of thing,'' Mrs. O'Donnell said, ''you don't want your children to see.''

Over the last two years, the United States has periodically supplied Iraq with military intelligence about Iran, White House and State Department officials said today. The American officials said the information had been shared to help Iraq avoid being defeated by Iran in their six-year war. The officials said that would be disastrous to American interests. But after the revelations of the last six weeks about secret arms sales to Iran, the latest disclosure was widely viewed as having further damaged the credibility of the Administration's claim to be neutral in the war.