338 



Assistant for Atomic Energy, established in 1957. This consolidated 

 office ultimately became the present Bureau of International Scientific 

 and Technological Affairs, one office of which is the Office of Space 

 and Atmospheric Science Affairs. 140 



SCIENCE EDUCATION IN AMERICA 



The IGY and Sputnik I, according to Sullivan, "precipitated a 

 reexamination of the educational system and, in fact, of the entire 

 American scale of values." U1 According to Senator Lyndon Johnson, 

 then Senate Majority Leader, "We have lost an important battle in 

 technology. That has been demostrated by the satellites that are 

 whistling above our heads." 142 In a unanimous statement, the Senate 

 Armed Services Preparedness Subcommittee declared: "We had ex- 

 pected to be first with this achievement. In fact, we have yet to prove 

 second. . . . We are engaged in a race for survival, and we intend to 

 win that race." 143 



Such concerns raised serious questions regarding the quality of 

 science education in America and led to an analysis of the kind of 

 education system necessary to "produce the well-informed and highly 

 competent men of science and public affairs required if our Nation is 

 to retain its position of responsibility and leadership in world af- 

 fairs." 144 Congress requested the National Academy of Sciences to 

 look into ways in which the IGY, as an undertaking of great public 

 interest, could help to educate the public with regard to the value of 

 science. The Academy responded by publishing the IGY bulletin and 

 full-color educational posters on "Planet Earth," and by producing 

 a series of 13 half -hour color films, one describing each IGY dis- 

 cipline. 145 As a result of these and other related IGY activities, parents, 

 school boards, and legislators became more aware of the importance 

 of science training for the Nation's youth. 



Demands were voiced that highly qualified students be given 

 better preparation for science careers. Curricula for secondary educa- 

 tion were revised, and books by Conant, Kickover, and others sought 

 to provide guidelines and stimulate discussion. Mathematics and 

 science courses began to reappear in high schools on a substantial 

 scale. Efforts were made to bring textbooks and teaching methods up 

 to date as exemplified by the work on physics teaching by MIT and 

 the revision of high school mathematics curricula by Yale. These 

 and other efforts helped to stimulate a new, widespread interest in 

 science in young people in schools and colleges throughout the coun- 

 try. Perhaps the greatest effect, however, was passage of the National 

 Defense Education Act of 1958, which made available substantial 

 Federal appropriations for these purposes. 



In retrospect, this emphasis was not entirely beneficial. Science 

 careers may have been made attractive to some students who lacked 

 either the necessary qualifications or the sustained motivation re- 



'•» Personal communication from Mr. Arthur E. Pardee, Jr., Executive Director of the BISTA. 



t« Sullivan, Assault, p. 416. 



|i« Statement before the Senate Preparedness Investigating Committee. In: U.S., Congress, Senate, 

 Committee on Armed Services, Inquiry Into Satellite and Missile Programs, Hearings, 86th Cong., 2d sess., 

 1968, p. 3. 



•« U.S., Congress, Senate, Armed Services Committee, Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee, 

 Hearings on Reports of the Secretary of Defense on Accomplishments of the Defense Department on Recommen- 

 dations of the Preparedness Subcommittee, 86th Cong., 2d sess., Jan. 23, 1968, p. 2427. I 



i« NSF Eighth Annual Report, p. 6. 



i« NAS IQY Program Report, p. x. 



