There are three developments which have profoundly affected mans' values, attitudes, social institutions, and behaviorisms. These are the population explosion, the population implosion, and population differentiation. These three developments are interrelated and are affected by accelerating rates of technological and social change. By reason of these developments many problems are created, a highly significant one being that of education. The thesis of this paper is that many of the contemporary problems may be viewed as frictions in a transition still under way from an agrarian society to a metropolitan order. It is contended that education, up to World War II, was a major factor in unifying the nation, but that since then the educational establishment has failed to keep up--and contributes, not to democracy, but to social stratification. After describing the population developments as manifest in the history of America, the necessity for making both quantitative and qualitative changes in the educational establishment becomes obvious. It is also suggested that the past prevents the solution of educational problems. It is concluded that survival depends in abandoning nineteenth and prior century ideologies and systems of governments. (Author/AM)