An investigation of interdisciplinary sources dealing with social values and the college curriculum reveals numerous examples of a "double-bind" situation, in which mutually contradictory signals are transmitted to the student. One example is the discrepancy between the stated purposes of the community college, as contained in its catalog and overt curriculum, and the covert curriculum, with its attendant values, that the student actually experiences. Although community colleges have accepted the traditional philosophy of "value-free," objective education, charges were made during the 1960's that colleges and universities had abandoned neutral positions on controversial issues--students began to articulate the discrepancies between the overt and hidden curricula and descry conflicting values in education. In and out of the classroom, consciously and unconsciously, values are transmitted through moralizing, modeling, laissez-faire attitudes, and values-clarification techniques. Studies have indicated that the attitudes and personalities of teachers have more influence on students than the subject matter taught. Unfortunately, studies of the community college instructor have revealed that their attitudes toward the educationally disadvantaged student are somewhat negative, and that middle class values are deeply entrenched in the institution as a whole. Numerous obstacles impinge on the possible resolution of the problems of the impact of values on the curriculum. (DR)