CriticismAmericans panicked after the Sputnik launch because they felt that America was falling behind. However, President Eisenhower was confident in the education system. To please the masses, the NDEA was passed and it sparked educational reform. The launch was a wake-up call that the United States benefitted from.
"In short, the United States perceived itself as scientifically, technologically, militarily, and economically weak. As a result, educators, scientists, and mathematicians broadened and accelerated educational reform, the public understood and supported the effort, and the policy makers increased federal funding." (Bybee) |
National Defense Education Act
The National Defense Education Act was passed by Congress on September 2, 1958 in response to the Sputnik Launch in 1957. The NDEA provided hundreds of millions of dollars for the purchase of scientific equipment, student loans, and scholarships. It's purpose was to promote knowledge in math, foreign language, and, most importantly, science in the American education system. A result of the NDEA was the creation of the Department of Education in 1979.
"We set sail on this new sea because there is knowledge to be gained." -John F. Kennedy
Next generation
After the Sputnik launch, the focus on mathematics and sciences dramatically increased. Nowadays, math and science are the most important subjects in a curriculum. The new focus on these subjects created many jobs that are valuable today.Senator Edward Kennedy said "We did it after the Sputnik launch, when we trained a new generation of Americans in math and science. And we inspired millions more to greater and greater innovation when President Kennedy challenged us to send a man to the moon," Kennedy said.