Unit 6: Education in the United States

Learning to Be World Citizens

Black and White Pupils

After 1920, the K to 12 education in America remained very much the same until World War II. That tragic event introduced changes that affected every institution in America—including the schools. American parents—especially young couples who married in the late 1940s wanted their children to be educated for the postwar world. At the same time, American blacks and other minority groups demanded educational opportunities equal to those of whites. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that the practice of segregating， blacks into separate schools was unconstitutional. By 1945, the United States was a nuclear power, a member

Protesting against School Segregation

of the United Nations, and a competitor with the Soviet Union for world influence. American jobs were changed by new technology (especially by the computer), and American businesses spread around the globe. Television brought the faces of presidents, entertainers and people from all over the world into America's homes each evening. Discoveries by scientists opened new secrets of the stars and of the atom. Between 1950 and 1960, more new knowledge was developed than in all of the world's history before 1950.

Discovering Secrets of Stars

Sputnik

Schools were asked not only to teach this new information, but to help students ask their own questions about it. The "inquiry" method of learning, focusing on solving problems rather than memorizing facts, became popular. More science courses were added to the curriculum, some as a result of the orbiting of the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, by the Soviet Union in 1957. The federal government began to spend millions for the development of new science curricula and for training teachers to use them. (Federal spending would spread to other fields, too, especially for programs to aid students with learning difficulties. By the early 1980s, the federal government was spending about 8 to 10 thousand million dollars annually on elementary and secondary education.)

But a good secondary education was no longer enough for many Americans. In one school district after another, parents insisted on high school programs that would prepare their sons and daughters for admission to a university. More and more Americans viewed the university as the doorway to a medical or law degree, a position in government, or a management position in a major business office.

Previous Page        Next Page