The changing nature of available work and the economic pressure of its international neighbors are necessitating rapid changes in U.S. education. Educators must eliminate the inapplicability and the crudeness of the present division between academic, vocational, and general educational programs in the secondary schools. The major challenge in the years ahead will be to create a more comprehensive continuum to cater to the gamut of human intellectual capabilities. Instead of vocational schools per se what is needed are schools of applied knowledge where people of various ages gather at different points in their lives to receive education and training in a variety of fields, including preparation for technical, paraprofessional, and artistic endeavors. Such a school or center will have two foci: it will concentrate more on concrete, more practical forms of education, and it will direct considerable resources to the transition from school to work. The school will be a center of learning and its boundaries will be near such transitional offices or units as placement or job service offices, work-study coordination agencies, guild or union facilities, and military and college recruitment outposts and social service welfare offices. (MN)