This paper examines some ethical problems that arose in a study of secondary curriculum, where educational criticism was used as a primary research strategy. A study on the subject of curriculum consonance was conducted in three tenth-grade history classrooms. In its original design, the study was primarily concerned with the correspondence between the intended, actualized, and experienced curricula. Unanticipated problems of an ethical nature began to arise during fieldwork. The ethical aspects of educational criticism are discussed in four parts: (1) background issues and the context of the study, which facilitate the comprehension of the ethical problems that eventually developed; (2) questions about the extent to which informed consent was obtained, and its implications for safeguarding anonymity of informants; (3) what was disclosed, and to whom; and (4) ethical problems created by negative disclosures, informed consent, and the form of the reporting. It is concluded that these problems are of great importance in qualitative inquiry and are exacerbated in significant ways in the conduct of educational criticism. There are no formulaic solutions to ethical problems--they seem endemic to criticism as a form of inquiry. An appendix includes the memorandum sent to participating teachers. (JAZ)