The document is a transcript of the radio program, "Options in Education," for the week of July 4, 1977. Broadcast by member stations of the National Public Radio System, the program is an electronic weekly magazine devoted to the coverage of news, features, policy, and people in the field of education. The issues highlighted in this program revolve around influence of educational critics, the relationship between educational criticism and political ideology, teachers' impressions of the critics, and critics' impressions of teachers. Critics include John Holt, Diane Ravitch, Herb Kohl, Eliot Wiggington, Jonathon Kozol, Ivan Illich, and George Dennison. Changes that have occurred in the thinking of these critics since their work appeared in the 1960's are explored. These changes include disillusionment, disinterest, difficulty in accepting the fact that new educational reformers are now more acceptable, and belief that schools are better than they were 15 years ago as a result of criticism leveled against the educational system. (Author/DB)