This study on malnutrition as a limiting factor in the development of education (and, hence, in socioeconomic development generally) was presented to the UNESCO Seminar on Education, Nutrition, Agriculture and Man. The paper reports on recent research showing that the development of the central nervous system in very young children (including the period of gestation) is realized at a sub-optimal level if the child, particularly before age 3, should suffer from nutritional deficiencies, especially animal protein and vitamins. The paper poses these questions: (1) Is malnutrition during the early years of life a decisive limiting factor in the development of education among economically and socially disadvantaged segments of society in developing and industrialized countries alike? (2) Are 2/3 to 3/4 of the children in developing countries probably not suffering from malnutrition (fully half to an extreme degree) during their first years of life? (3) Are overall food (particularly protein) shortages not far less the cause of present inadequate child feeding in disadvantaged communities than lack of awareness, by those who feed the children, of the consequences and implications of defective child nutrition? Sections on planning a research program and possibilities for immediate corrective action follow discussion of the issue. (Author/KM)