Evidence suggests that curricular content and the educational process shape and are shaped by sociocultural factors. This article explores changing ideas concerning how schools should respond to the societal environment and points out that no educational approach is completely neutral. The author urges that school-society relations be regarded…

In 1983, elementary and secondary teachers in West Germany were surveyed concerning the treatment of social themes in school curricula. As in a similar survey conducted in the United States, West German respondents indicated that every theme surveyed was important, with nuclear disarmament and environmental pollution clearly considered the most…