1958 - Education

Education

A U.S. National Defense Education Act adopted by Congress September 3 authorizes federal spending of $480 million over 4 years for "strengthening science, mathematics, and foreign language instruction." The lawmakers have responded to fears that the Soviet Union was giving top priority to science education and gaining an edge on the United States in the cold-war space race; Title III of the act gives a boost to sales of textbooks and tape recorders.

Cliffs Notes (initially Cliff's Notes) are introduced by Nebraska textbook publishing executive Clifton Keith Hillegass, 40. A Toronto publisher has come up with the idea of study guides for 16 Shakespearean works; Hillegass has borrowed $4,000 and started the enterprise in his basement; but some high schools call his plot summaries and commentaries "cheat sheets" or "intellectual crutches." Hillegass includes a note with his signature in each of his pamphlets telling the reader, "A thorough appreciation of literature allows no shortcuts." Millions of students will use the heavily advertised guides, and in 30 years the company will have 230 titles and be taking in $11 million per year.

The University of California makes its Berkeley campus chancellor Clark Kerr president of the entire system (see 1952). A champion of expanding educational benefits, Kerr will create a three-tier system whose structure and objectives mix populism with elitism: students at campuses like Berkeley will come from the top 12.5 percent of the state's high school graduates, state colleges will take one third of the graduates and function primarily as undergraduate institutions, community colleges will offer 2-year transfer and vocational programs open to every California high school graduate, and other states will try to emulate the plan (see politics, 1964).

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) opens at Bombay with 100 of the country's brightest students. Established with help from UNESCO together with equipment and experts from the Soviet government, its purpose is to train people for careers in technology and science, its campus occupies 200 hectares in the suburb of Powai, the Indian government subsidizes tuitions, UNESCO offers fellowships, the curriculum includes not only basic courses in chemistry, mathematics, and physics but also some in economics, engineering, English, philosophy, and social sciences, and although many if not most IIT graduates will emigrate to America the institute will help give India a cadre of trained professionals and make her a major factor in the world community of science and technology.