For most of American history, businesses were run to provide livelihoods and "reasonable" profit. In the last few decades, though, business and society in general have moved toward emphasizing profit maximization and individual self-interest. The shift from "reasonable profit" to profit maximization has significant implications for corporate behavior and government regulation. Moreover, how society views the purpose of the corporation has significant implications not only for business, but also for the perceived responsibilities of its citizens, their interactions with each other, and their obligation to their fellow countrymen. Today, it is common for corporations to direct their attention to serving shareholder and management interests, and to achieving the highest short-term financial return. Not only has this view become commonplace in society and the economy, it has permeated educational institutions and affected how young people see the role of corporations. In this paper, the author examines law and business school curricula to determine which perspectives are taught in professional education, and student perceptions about business schools based on surveys at leading business programs over the past decade. He focuses on business and law schools because they train the leaders of tomorrow. The author finds four important results: (1) many law or business schools do not require stand-alone courses that provide broad conceptions on the purpose of the corporation in society, although a number offer electives dealing in whole or part with this subject; (2) of classes that do focus on the purpose of the corporation, many emphasize the goal of maximizing shareholder value, especially in law schools; (3) instruction affects views of the world because business school surveys show that after completing school, students are more likely to see shareholder value as the most important goal of the corporation; and (4) the relative paucity of required instructional materials on broad conceptions of the purpose of the corporation has important ramifications for business, government, and society. A list of top business and law schools is appended. (Contains 39 endnotes.