Current curricula in institutions of higher education are criticized in this speech for their lack of a common core of education. Several possibilities for developing such a common core include education centered around our common heritage and the challenges of the present. It is suggested that all students must be introduced to the events, individuals, the great ideas, and great literature that have contributed to human gains and losses. In the area of present challenges three proposals are made: (1) all students should be required to master the written and spoken word; (2) the functions of social institutions to which we are all tied should be clarified; and (3) the meaning of vocation should be explained. (SPG)