Perspectives concerning the need to reform high school and college curricula and college admission standards are considered. Until the early 1960s, most U.S. colleges offered a traditional curriculum in the lower division, with emphasis on certain skills, such as writing and arithmetic reasoning, and also on communicating certain basic cultural values. Beginning about 1960, the traditional curriculum was displaced by the general education curriculum, which allowed students to choose within broad rubrics what kind of competence they would develop in college. There was a general reaction against mathematics and science, and foreign language requirements disappeared in many schools. The core curriculum movement, which was influenced by developments at Harvard University, concentrates on specific and discrete skills that can be measured in reliable ways. The assumption is that the first year of study should be basically remedial, after which students should reach a level of competence that will allow them to advance to a complex second-year program that prepares students for a major program. There is a direct connection between this kind of curriculum and the efforts to reform the high school curriculum. The Southern Regional Education Board's views on the need for quality are presented in excerpts from "The Need for Quality," and the College Board's Project EQuality is described. The Board is trying to redefine the core academic competencies that ought to be taught in high school and construct an academic curriculum to prepare students for college. Additionally, the following concerns of legislators are discussed: higher education's role in improving the quality of high schools; and the validity of scholastic aptitude test scores. (SW)