7. Post Sputnik American Education

More major advances in education took place after World War Two. The first of which was the GI Bill. After the fall of the Axis powers, the United States was flooded with young men (soldiers) to whom we felt we owed a great debt. There was a big problem: What do we do with the hundreds of thousands of men returning home? So brilliant plans were developed to send them to school. This was very important. Most of the men returning home were not from the upper echelons of society, they were from middle and lower class families and the GI Bill provided them with unprecedented access to higher education. To
handle the massive influx of students, hundreds of colleges were built and the capacity of higher education was permanently enlarged. The GI Bill put to final rest the notion that higher education was for the privileged.

Another innovation in education came about as a result of the cold war. With the launch of Sputnik and the ensuing hysteria in the United States, people believed the United States to be twenty years behind the Russians in Science education. The
National Defense Education Act was enacted to improve the sciences and guard America's future. In all actuality, the United States was not behind, in fact we could have put a satellite up before Sputnik, but were busy putting all the bells and whistles on our Explorer satellite. In any event, it became politically expedient to pass such education legislation and so science education was the beneficiary of good legislation for the wrong reason. Good things often occur for the wrong reasons.

The Job Corps is another landmark in American education. The advent of Job Corps initiated the notion that we value those who do not do well in traditional education. Previously, it was considered a great leap forward just to give students a chance at school and if they did well then great, but if not then tough luck, they had their shot and blew it. No one recognized that many talents other than those cultivated in traditional schools (with the exception of athletics) are important. The Job Corps, which gave those less than successful in school, another chance, was the first step toward this new philosophy of education (traditional and non-traditional) for all. The next step was alternative education.

Alternative education means all kinds of alternatives to traditional education. We are still working on this one. We must find a way to honor and make use of all the talent that members of society have to offer. Great strides in this movement have been made by Howard Gardner and his theory of multiple intelligences.

	How did the Russian Sputnik affect American higher education?	Answer Here
	Newman is a nineteen-year-old young man in 1969 who has never done well in school despite his greatest efforts. He has always stayed for extra help and gone the extra mile to get his work done and understand it, but he never seems to do well academically. How can Newman be successful in life regardless of his academic deficits?	Answer Here