It is not uncommon to hear a critic of American education claim that education in the 1970s is poorer than it was in the past. Nor is it uncommon to hear that there is more educational excellence in one state today than there was in all of the states of the Union just a few decades ago. But the problem is not whether education today is better or worse than in the past, but how it is different. The question that needs to be raised is, "Is American education relevant to the latter part of the twentieth century?'' It is Richard Pratte's thesis that for American education to be judged relevant it must manifest a deep concern and understanding of the great problems of a society that is increasingly dominated by technology. In this article, Pratte argues the media revolution has resulted in a new sensorium: the sensing-emotional-intellectual process by which one takes in perceptions and organizes them. He concludes that to be a contemporary, the teacher needs to understand the attraction of the new media for youth and enjoy the new sensorium. Teachers must be able to help youth intelligently assess the choices they want to make for sensory contact. Perhaps teachers can help students get involved in the educational process by helping them to realize that learning involves the discovery of both ideas and of personal reactions and relationships which are new not only to the teacher and student but to the culture surrounding the schoolroom. With such recognitions, teachers and students may yet resist a repressive technological society. Together they may nourish the new sensorium. [This article was originally published in "The Clearing House" v45 n4 1970 (see EJ031084).]