Linguistics ought to do something besides train new linguists; there is a good deal about language that has philosophical and social import and should be a part of general education. In developing curricula for linguistics courses, four major distinctions have special relevance: (1) a philosophical vs a professional introduction to linguistics; the philosophical introduction is for general education, the professional for those preparing to be professional linguistics; (2) observation vs. formalism; non-majors need to observe in principle the meaning of the formal aspects of an analysis whereas majors need to know how to justify the formal aspects of an analysis; (3) teachers vs. students; language study offers opportunities for students to participate in the scientific process; thus student observation should be recognized as valid by teachers; (4) language vs. linguistics; the usage of "language" as opposed to "linguistics" in the nomenclature of introductory courses emphasizes the need for making substantive statements about language as opposed to the justification of the formalism behind the generalizations. The study of linguistics, if expanded to stimulate the interest of non-professionals, will contribute not only to the self-preservation of the profession economically, but will lead to better linguistic theory. (LG)