Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of general education. In this electronic age, it becomes increasingly clear that the forms of the new mass media of communication are shaping society as effectively as their content. However, it is an exaggeration to think of there being anything more than a mere diminution of the power of the printed word. Perhaps, it is not yet necessary to defend the traditional notion that reading is still the best foundation of a general education, even in a world that has become a global village. Every student should try to collect a library of his or her own. Greater value is always attached to one's own possessions. The books that one reads stretch the mind. It is once again a way of thought rather than an accumulation of facts that is advocated. Sixth formers of today are preparing for a different world in which access to information may not be unimportant, but which will demand above all an enlightened mind.