The adequacy of nursing education programs in preparing nurses to meet current and future societal needs is addressed, with attention directed to baccalaureate programs, faculty, and graduates. It is suggested that research findings and anecdotal reports have validated the dysfunction phenomena between baccalaureate nursing education, the practice situation, and first job adjustment problems. Critics have claimed that nursing education programs are more concerned with promoting theories of education and of "what a nurse should be" rather than graduating people prepared to carry out the service responsibilities currently assigned by hospitals and other health agencies. Conversely, some educators say the employment setting does not reinforce professional experience and the nurse's view of self and individual capacities, and that hospital administration is resistant to changes in the responsibilities assigned to beginning nurses and in the organization of nursing services that would accommodate the skills, attitudes, and expectations of newly graduated nurses. It is suggested that both sides need to focus on increasing their understanding of appropriate ways of introducing new graduates into the service setting. Educators need to initiate discussions among nursing service administrators increasingly regarding probable deficiencies in the preparation of the new graduate both during the educational process and during orientation to the work setting. The value of examining research on what people learn from teachers is noted. It is further proposed that what may be needed is more concentration on a redefinition of goals of higher education in nursing to promote present functioning of novices and to prepare graduates to work on unpredictable, complex problems of the future. (SW)