The extent to which the issue of nuclear war technology is treated in middle-school science texts, and how students learn about nuclear war and war technology were studied. Five raters compared the most widely used textbooks for grades 6 and 7 to determine the amount of content on: (1) population growth; (2) world hunger; (3) war technology; (4) air quality; and (5) water resources. A survey of 100 students in grades 6 and 7 determined what they thought were serious world-wide concerns and what their sources of information were. Of 4,393 pages of textbook content, less than 2% were devoted to these serious human problems and less than half a page was found on issues related to war technology. Students identified the threat of nuclear war and AIDS as their most serious concerns. They indicated that television was the most used and best informed source of information on these issues. With teachers relying heavily on textbooks, and students drawing so much information from television, a vacuum is created in the school. Educators must address these issues by improving textbooks and using the power of television. Thirty references are listed, and an appendix contains seven tables of study data. (SLD)