Two weaknesses common to many present-day graduates have particular importance to the future of medicine: many graduates are "well-trained technically but are poorly educated," and many "do not possess an adequate understanding of the social problems of our complex modern society and fail to realize the extent of their own social responsibility," Colleges and universities should take prompt steps to regain the initiative in medical education they have lost to professional societies, accrediting agencies and to speciality boards. To achieve the purposes of medical education two needs are critical: the need for superior teachers with insight into the problems of our time, and the need for excellent students whose sound general education has developed in them a sense of social responsibility.