Seven historical purposes have been proclaimed in American education since the turn of the century. The four familiar purposes are the American "quadrivium." They lead in different directions: one leads to academic discipline, one to social efficiency, a third to individual development, and the fourth to vocational competence. The three more recent purposes are much more controversial, much more complicated, and, in some respects, more fundamental. Education is being called on to aid in the American peoples' renewed search for their three most cherished ideals--liberty, equality, and justice (or, political community). These are the new "trivium." The greatest need for improvement at all levels of education for the next quarter of a century lies in the intensified search for education's role in relating freedom, equality, and community. Of these, the very highest priority should be given to the search for a viable, inclusive, and just political community. If the school would take seriously the authority of the enduring ideals, sentiments, and moral commitments of our political community as embodied in the constitutional regime and especially in the Bill of Rights, the schools and colleges could help society put into practice our professed democratic ideals. (Author/IRT)