Six ways of viewing educational adequacy, the financial implications of these six definitions, and the political and economic bases for utilizing particular concepts of adequacy in the context of an American-style democracy are considered in this document. According to the definitions, educational adequacy can be measured in terms of the amount of education completed; the efficiency of the program in raising test scores without increasing expenditures; the equality of the education (described either as the provision of equal treatment to all groups or as the achievement of equal performance by all groups); the degree of social competency developed in the students; the quantity of human capital generated relative to the financial investment; or the equality of opportunity created (described either as the ability of all groups to obtain equal returns on educational investments, or as the equalization of income opportunities across groups). The author argues that America's governmental bureaucracy has an interest in maintaining conditions favorable to capitalism and is not automatically responsive to majority opinion. Under these conditions, concepts of educational adequacy develop as a result of pressures placed on the dominant society by subordinate groups and are thus defined politically and serve political purposes. (Author/PGD)