This critique of the "America 2000" educational reform initiative claims that its fundamental proposals highlight "old" ideas based on a "puritanic" perfect society with little attention to equity and the multidimensional needs of such groups as African-American at-risk students. The paper discusses the impact of the "America 2000" program on African American at-risk students, with particular focus on the program's excessive reliance on national testing, school choice for parents, and instructional accountability at all levels. Criticism of national testing centers on issues of reliability and validity; school choice is seen as not being workable for inner-city African American parents; and instructional accountability is felt to result in discrimination against African-American teacher education students and failure to account for individual differences. The paper also examines the traditionally Eurocentric nature of American education. Recommended in place of the "America 2000" approach is an attack on inequities through practical implementation of multiculturalism and multiethnicity in assessment, placement, and instructional policies. (Contains 24 references.) (DB)