The basic purpose of education is to prepare people to be successful in the world which will exist during their life span. Present day education is failing in this because our schools were organized for the industrial era. The resulting model requires that phenomena be predictable, understandable, and unidimensional. Today, we know that everything must be seen as it relates to everything else, that there is no such thing as truly objective analysis or action, and that all actions involve risk. Population expansion, new migration patterns, and new environmental concern have led us to require tolerance for ambiguity and appreciation for cultural diversity. The next predictable revolutionary change will emerge from the continued development of the technology of telecommunication. All people will be required to have the following basic skills: (1) to live with others in diverse communities; (2) to seek learning throughout the life span; (3) to make decisions about defined situations, while being aware of the interconnections with other situations; (4) to produce creative ideas about the ways a given situation can be improved; and (5) to distinguish between situations which need to be resolved with major change and those for which it is best to work within current realities. To meet these requirements will involve changing the fundamental psychology of the educational system. Community control must become real, communications between different systems must improve, and we must learn to cooperate while leaving cultural differences intact. (KH)