Interviews expressing a variety of viewpoints on the present and future status of education on a national and global scale are offered by 14 major educators and public figures. The theme of educational reform frames each interview. Patricia Biehl reflects on the diminishing effectiveness of secondary education. Derek Bok favors the teaching of ethics. Applying the humanities is the focus of Daniel Callahan's argument that the acquisition and application of knowledge should be interdisciplinary. Robert Coles comments on the moral power of literature. Edwin Dorn punctuates his interview about racism in America with a plea for race awareness. Education for global understanding underpins Georgie Anne Geyer's belief that nations must cooperate rather than confront. Henry Giroux's dream of radical education includes educating students for public life by training them to be critical of the existing social order. Inadequate citizenship education can only be resolved by training citizens to be active, according to Ralph Ketcham. Christopher Lasch comments at length on the social role of the educator and argues for an expanded humanities curriculum. Elisabeth Minnich describes the thinking citizen who is well-versed in the humanities and committed to critical introspection and circumspection. Frank Newman restructures American education. Robert Payton believes that the components of public education, social discourse, and philanthropy must be shaped by forces from without the school's walls as well as from within. Douglas Sloan, Manfred Stanley, and Bernard Murchland contend that technology must be tempered by a humanities-saturated core curriculum in order to instill imagination, caring, and social consciousness into school curricula. (JAM)