This essay discusses the need for reform of American public school education as part of a general process of social reform. The author argues that the old image of the school as a "factory" in which the student is regarded as a product to be processed must be reformed so that the school really does provide a quality education for all. The reform involves changes in traditional curricula as well as new curricula that include not only teachers and administrators but also parents, students, and other community members. Instead of the old progressive idea that the school should be a community, the author proposes that the community should become a school. Everyone in such an environment is potentially a teacher. In this conception of education the teachers are those who organize communities capable of nourishing self-realization by building new alignments of power, communication, and expertise, as well as creating new definitions of community. (DI)