When Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia, the education provided blacks was very different from that provided to whites. As more blacks passed through the school system it became obvious that for many young Zimbabweans the system provided education for unemployment and frustration. In 1966 African secondary schools were divided into F(1) academic and F(2) practical/vocational schools. In Zimbabwe the F(2) schools offered little promise for blacks since the schools were meant for those who were supposed to be less capable academically and offered a very limited type of training. The school system inherited by Zimbabwe when it became independent was full of contradictions, discriminatory practices, and negative attitudes and was seriously lacking in resources. For the past five years Zimbabwe has been attempting to address its social, economic, political, and cultural environments insofar as they relate to education. New comprehensive political plans are currently underway to vocationalize the country's secondary school curriculum. Efforts are being directed to make the schools the basis of national development. In Zimbabwe education is viewed as a force for social change that should play a liberating role in instilling goals of cooperative behavior patterns and stressing vocational skills and knowledge that will enable students to develop socialist ideals. To avoid the past mistake of introducing practical subjects without carefully integrating them with the country's social and economic environment, the new curriculum is designed to provide children with a knowledge of people's roles and relations with one another and with the components of their environment. (MN)