The social studies teacher in today’s elementary and secondary school is faced with a serious problem in attempting to determine the curriculum for a geography, cultures or history course: does one discuss each of the 145 or so independent states in the world, allowing only one hour of class period per country, or should particular attention be directed to certain nations? Of course, the latter is the only logical alternative. The problem remains, however, of how to select those states that will be examined in detail.