Word: sputnik
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...issue of education, of course, is not new to politics. The United States made a concerted effort to push math and science in schools following the Soviet launching of Sputnik in the late 1950s. But in the space of four years, since the last Presidential election year, education has jumped from sitting on the backburner to being one of the most debated topics on the campaign trail...
...sometimes difficult to know whether Kennedy was a visionary or simply a rhetorician. He did have a high sense of adventure, which he combined with patriotism in the launching of his plan to put a man on the moon and thereby repay the Soviets for the technological humiliations of Sputnik. He did imagine a better America, a fairer place, a more excellent place. He even believed that it was part of his task as President to lift American culture. He and his wife Jacqueline brought Pablo Casals and Igor Stravinsky and Bach and Mozart to the White House...
...Russia launched Sputnik I, an act that challenged Americans' belief in the superiority of U.S. insitutions, expecially education. Citizens frightened by visions of Soviet domination clamored for changes in public schooling to combat the threat...
Twenty-five years after Sputnik, Americans once again fear the U.S. is losing its edge, and they believe primary and secondary education are to blame. According to a recent New York Timespoll, seven out of eight Americans advocate a back-to-basics program to correct the problem. President Reagan also favors this emphasis on fundamentals. Yet, a close analysis of student performance reveals that proponents of the back-to-basics program are neglectful of the facts; such an educational program will not help to maintain the competitive edge...
...state of affairs. I want you to get so mad that you kick your elders in their figurative posteriors and move America off dead center. Our nation was born when 56 patriots got mad enough to sign the Declaration of Independence. We put a man on the moon because Sputnik made us mad at being No. 2 in space. Getting mad in a constructive way is good for the soul-and the country...