In their presentation, at the start of the seminar, the authors note that their focus is on the relationship between cultural needs and the operation of the educational enterprise, and some potential contributions of psychological research to the formulation of educational and social policy. Their case rests on three arguments: (1) schooling has been traditionally viewed as the door of access to full participation in the culture. This has not been true for some members of the culture, particularly non-white minorities; i.e. certain socio-cultural factors make it difficult for them to get through the door, Moreover, these "sub-cultural" factors are at variance with the demands of the mainstream school; (2) schooling is not the door through which one must pass if one is to have access to mainstream American life. The explicitly stated role of the school is not the real one; and, (3) this argument focuses on what the various roles of education are and how they affect minorities. The presentation ends with a discussion of some of the authors' research which (1) questions the idea that basic abilities for example, attention, abstraction, etc. are non-transferable; and (2) demonstrates that performance changes are domain specific. (Author/JM)