The paper discusses curriculum change in American education and describes a social studies curriculum model intended to help high school students become better decision makers. The paper is presented in eight sections. Section I identifies educational programs which have been implemented in response to crisis situations. Among these are sex education, drug education, and environmental education. Section II forecasts future developments, including accelerated social change, continued technological advancement, international conflict, and changing concepts of work and leisure. Section III explains that curriculum goals should be to help students broaden social perspectives, understand consequences of decisions, understand social issues, and deal with multiple interacting variables. Section IV describes a curriculum model which is based on progression through learning stages until students reach their highest potential. Section V identifies learning activities which are part of the model. Students are involved in role playing, exposure to alternative viewpoints, debates, clarification of ideas, defending personal attitudes, and examining consequences of decisions. Section VI lists modules developed for junior and senior high school students. Section VII provides information about how the modules were field tested. The final section offers conclusions. The major conclusion is that the proposed curriculum can help students become better decision makers by emphasizing simultaneous development in intellectual and moral/ethical areas. (DB)