Throughout the history of education in America, curricula have been expanded to meet individual and societal needs. There has been and will continue to be exploration of issues concerning the future of education. Four issues that have emerged in the 1980's are consumarism, privatism, technology, and quality of life. A "consumer" approach to education could mean that curriculum would change according to popular trends or whims and that public education could become fragmented, aimless, and weak. The growing trends toward censorship and creationism pose new challenges to educators and education. There are attempts to search for and destroy those elements within the public schools that promote the development of free, inquiring minds. However, there is value to be gained from any form of instruction that acquaints students with a moral philosophy and which forces them to think carefully and rigorously about problems. Technology in education, referred to as the silicon era, need not be demeaning, limiting, or dangerous to free will; it can be used to release human energy for the improvement of mankind. Educators are challenged by the need to integrate the microcomputer into a curriculum that meets educational objectives while retaining humanity. Quality of life for students, teachers, and society entails the health and wellness of the individual as essential to a fully, satisfactorily functioning social order. (JD)