The American educational system increasingly shapes individuals to fit a production-consumption system. Most educators believe that education should provide career training and the basis for economic advancement, rather than reflect on past events. The questions--who we are, why we are here, and where we are going--are seldom discussed in public education today. Continued technological development has resulted in global concerns, including accelerating industrialization, rapid population growth, widespread malnutrition, depletion of nonrenewable natural resources, and deteriorating environment. These concerns have created a new kind of awareness that technology and its impact are irreversible. Increasingly, there is the realization that if present trends continue, self-destruction from overpopulation and high energy consumption is assured. The implication is that increased liberal arts knowledge will directly enhance a society's capacity to make choices, decide goals, and produce desired changes. This acceptance of a new liberal arts perspective, in turn, would increase the potential of education as a creator of intelligent, capable beings. (Author/DB)