Education Commons^™

Modern Breakthroughs And Forecasts In Education, Susan Ann Todd

Honors Theses

In September, 1957, many Americans pictured Russia as a vast slum composed largely of baggy-trousered peasants who couldn't make a decent refrigerator or automobile. On October 4, 1957, when the Russians placed the first man-made hardware in orbit around the earth, this illusion exploded into bleak reality.

The American people were staggered. The Eisenhower administration was in serious trouble--but not for long. Within weeks the nation was given to understand that the school teachers were to blame. America had fallen behind because John Dewey's fuzzy-minded disciples had failed to teach children enough science. Suddenly, American secondary education became our national …