The 20th Century has witnessed tremendous changes in the American workforce, communications and information technology, and the nation's economy. Changes in the next 20 years are projected to surpass those of the past 80 years. Historically, the focal point for reacting to changes in skills needed in the workplace has been the educational system, which provided each new generation with the skills that would serve throughout a lifetime of employment. Now the skills required for continued employment are changing so rapidly that as many as 20 million Americans will need to be retrained in the next 10 years as their current skills become almost obsolete. Community colleges will be a necessary force for the retraining of individuals whose livelihood has become displaced by, for example, robotics; whose jobs have not been replaced after layoff; whose skills must be upgraded due to technological changes; and who for their own professional advancement must become more knowledgeable. Community colleges must be prepared to take advantage of educational changes expected over the next 20 years, including: (1) the concept of lifelong learning will be merged and incorporated into the realms of both work and leisure; (2) education, via computer electronics, will become an integral part of everyone's daily life; (3) portable delivery systems will be ubiquitous; (4) market disaggregation will increasingly occur in education; and (5) teachers will become partners with their students in the discovery process. (LAL)