ABSTRACT
The publication of A Nation at Risk escalated the continuing debate over curriculum in schools to a greater intensity, and focused more attention on both the skills and the content of curriculum. Curriculum always represents somebody's version of what constitutes important knowledge and a legitimate worldview. The authors’ analysis of textbooks clearly shows the extent to which the curriculum focuses on the White male and downplays or simply ignores the accomplishments and concerns of Americans who are of color, female, poor, and/or disabled. The story-line analysis is used primarily with social studies texts. It involves analyzing which group receives the most sustained attention, which group resolves problems, the extent to which these other groups cause, and who the author intends the reader to sympathize with or learn most about. All of these responses ignored or gave only passing attention to the inequality based on race, sex, disability, and social class that continues to exist in the schools' curriculum.
