Over the past three decades administrators of the California community college system have focused attention on system growth and expansion, changes in student body characteristics, and funding support problems while ignoring the system's principal function, teaching. In order to improve understanding of the teaching function and to elevate respect for teaching, there must be better means for faculty to communicate their experiences, problems, and ideas to their colleagues, the policy makers, and the public. New communications methods might involve having teachers commit their perceptions to paper, perhaps with financial awards as incentives, these papers to be circulated in a statewide journal which would establish a forum for all 104 colleges in the system. The best essays could be disseminated among the public. Further, faculty members should be encouraged to visit other campuses to promote intercampus information exchange and cooperation. On the state level, an independent inquiry into teaching might be initiated covering faculty background and professional goals as well as faculty views on teaching and how it can be improved. In addition, policy makers, such as members of the state Board of Governors, should actively explore teaching concerns through on-campus visits to discover the various faculty voices within the system. (TR)