Recent critiques of education in the United States have all too often been simplistic in their solutions and punitive in tone. American education has historically been concerned with providing equality of opportunity and accomodating individual and group differences, yet calls for excellence often devalue these fundamental elements of democracy. Schools are measured by their success in producing the reading, writing, and calculating "machines" that society needs for support and for social and emotional guidance. In a 1984 position statement, the American Orthopsychiatric Association asserted that successful educational reform cannot occur until there is a national mandate for improvement backed by a financial commitment equivalent to that for national defense. Without such a national effort, mental health workers involved in education can only go on trying to help educators help children. This effort involves changing educators' attitudes toward emotional problems, deepening the mental health professional's understanding of educational concepts and methods, and providing support for educators themselves. (PGD)