Given today's rapid pace of change in knowledge and lifestyles and the resultant obsolescence of an individual's education shortly after graduation, community college's must plan for and help promote the emergence of a learning society. Basic to the concept of lifelong learning are: (1) the restructuring of the entire educational system to develop and encourage lifelong learners in their first years of school; (2) the utilization of businesses and other non-academic organizations as resources in the learning process; and (3) the increased responsibility on the part of students for self-directed learning. The accomplishment of these goals requires that special efforts, including adult career counseling, equity in financial aid, and more job-relevant education, be employed to help those economically and educationally disadvantaged students whose past negative experiences with the educational system discourage their participation in adult learning. In addition, colleges must abandon the self-serving view of adult education as a means of protecting jobs and concentrate on providing students with an understanding of themselves as learners, of the need for lifelong learning, and of the methods of selecting from the educational options available to them. These efforts will increase the pool of sophisticated consumers of education and challenge the educational system to achieve high levels of production and quality. (JP)