If consumer educators are going to survive in their field, they're going to have to be (1) selective, (2) very knowledgeable of their specialization, (3) and willing to use both traditional classroom educational methods and some of the newer techniques. Because consumer problems have become so pervasive and complex, it becomes necessary to concentrate education on the most widespread and serious problems: heavy installment buying at high finance charges, large medical expenses due to inadequate insurance, rising fees, and lack of knowledge of free or low-cost care, heavy housing expenses, high food costs, transportation expenses, lack of knowledge of community resources, lack of understanding of how to manage money and do long-range planning, and need for guidance in rights and responsibilities to prevent costly legal problems. A major difficulty in consumer education is finding impartial experts and materials to deliver truly useful information. Teachers must be aware of the limitations of materials produced by business interests, government, commercial magazines and newspapers, and even costly educational services producing filmstrips, textbooks, and other literature. Each must do his own screening and choosing. Some useful nontraditional teaching methods include discussion of legislative issues and formation of buying clubs. (JT)