Sputnik Reevaluated: Pedagogic Debate in Connecticut Secondary Schools, 1956-1964

Abstract

This thesis examines the reaction to the October 1957 Sputnik launch in the Connecticut secondary schools. In addition, the paper analyzes the rhetoric used by politicians, teachers, and parents in the state. Important debates regarding the appropriate scope of federal control over education and the necessary pedagogic method to win the Cold War were had around Connecticut in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Connecticut educators managed to retain local decision-making ability in their individual schools, but pedagogic methods and curricular structures were changed dramatically in Connecticut as a result of the Sputnik launch.