Although the American work force is generally better educated than ever before, the general productivity of American workers continues to drop. This trend indicates that too many people are unable to cope with the demands placed on them to organize, evaluate, and communicate information to each other. In order to better prepare citizens for life in a fast-paced society, changes in education are necessary. Teaching as a transmission of an organized body of knowledge must be replaced with instruction in the process of organizing knowledge. Since thinking requires language ability, a society shifting from industrial to information production and requiring new educational methods that enhance language ability places a greater burden upon the teacher, both as an instructor and as a model language user. Unfortunately, the most able students on college campuses major in law or engineering or medicine, and many students who prepare to be teachers are not the brightest or the most talented. Whatever the reasons that have been identified as causes for the decline in the quality of students who select teaching as a career, the result is the same: the quality of teaching suffers. (DF)