The current movement for educational reform follows earlier realizations that the nation's industry and infrastructures have been neglected. President Reagan has responded inadequately to the crisis in education, and Americans will not accept Reagan administration initiatives that do not continue and expand existing successful programs, such as those involving students targeted by Title I (now Chapter 1) and Head Start. Ninety-nine percent of the changes in education proposed in recent reports critical of the present system should not be proposed at all, for most concern matters of common sense that should always inform educational practices. But, because we have moved far away from where we should be, educational reforms are needed, especially as concern proposals of merit pay and differential pay for teachers, the Minnesota Supreme Court's approval of a form of tuition tax credit or deductions, and the issue of teacher quality. With regard to acquiring talented teachers, schools must offer competitive salaries and remove violent, disturbed, or disruptive students from classrooms. In addition, they must allow teachers to teach subjects in which they have training, reduce excessive workloads, and modernize the administrative structure of schools. (A transcript of the question-and-answer session following the address is included.) (RH)