The paper discusses the relevance of studying ethnocentrism in the secondary level social studies classroom. The study of ethnocentrism (a people's assumption that their way of life is the right way) allows students to share in the methodology of historiography, helps them to be aware of the importance of ideas and attitudes as historical data, and leads them to question cultural stereotypes. Ethnocentrism may be introduced in several ways. Students can discover how tribal peoples regard themselves by examining their group labels, by examining the concept of manifest destiny in American history, and by reading descriptions of American Indian cultures, autobiographies, and other ethnographic accounts in which custom appears as an integral element of a functioning culture. A brief description of the culture of the Plains Indians is provided as an example. (KC)