Change is more advantageous if it incorporates an entire society rather than an element of that society, and the goals of educational development will be most fruitfully realized with a minimum of harmful effects if programs of instructional development are made to focus on the entire culture, rather than on a single social institution. A systems approach may be extremely important to the educational planner as it emphasizes the need for an integrated approach, recognizing that several factors must be considered together if sound goals are to be met by sound programs. The systems theory paradigm also offers a conceptual tool to the planner whereby a process may be organized into categories, and in so doing may lead to the generation of research, prediction of outcomes, and the encouragement of measurement and evaluation. (CMV)