Public education is controlled by government bureaucracy; teacher education has been regulation-driven and paperwork-intensive. This paper proposes an alternative response by teacher education to the dilemma--namely, that educators should establish their own identity and develop innovative curriculum and instruction. Within teacher education there is a loosely knit school of theorists called Reconceptualists who since the early 1970s have kept a sharp focus on innovation in educational theory. The Reconceptualists have emphasized the phenomenological approach, have been early proponents of qualitative research methods, and advocate using theory to create social change. For example, in debating the private school-voucher issue, Reconceptualists would focus on historical precedents and issues of class and race, rather than test scores and economic efficiency. They challenge the claim that schools exist primarily to create a productive work force. A common theme among Reconceptualist critiques is that the debate on educational issues is undertheorized and controlled by powerful persons outside of education. Educators are encouraged to press the debate on multicultural and gender equity to its logical limits, including class and the distribution of wealth in the analysis. Finally, progress in education is tied to self-regulation. (LMI)