This speech begins with a discussion of broad social and political patterns and trends that are currently developing and continues to the specific unresolved social issues which will affect the nature and structure of educational systems. Those issues seen by the author is most likely to produce the greatest amount of activity are integration, the urban fiscal crisis, the puralistic society vs the "meltingpot" concept, urban-suburban mandated court decisions, and students' quests for relevant educational experiences. The author focuses on the key issues of the social expectations for education and the political interpretations of these expectations. He contends that, to rectify the situation in which each school is made the focal point for the fulfillment of an unmanageable amount of social expectations and demands, three alternatives are possible. These alternatives are to (1) increase governmental funding to provide necessary resources to meet the expectations; (2) eliminate some expectations; and (3) retain the expectations but recognize that a single school cannot meet them and combine a central school with satellite specialized schools that offer varied academic, social, and pedagogical orientation. The paper focuses much of its comment on the state of and expectations for education in Massachusetts. (Author/MLF)