Sputnik and W.T. White: Why Some of Us Became So Brainy

From A Century of Class: Public Education in Dallas 1884-1984, by Rose-Mary Rumbley. Austin, TX. Eakin Press, 1984.

The next month, October 5 [1957], the Russians launched the first artificial earth satellite and a month later followed it with a second, heavier and more impressive "Sputnik." Americans knew Russia was ahead in scientific technology. They also knew that America would have to catch up and surpass the Soviets. On December 6, a United States rocket carrying a grapefruit-size satellite exploded on the launching pad at Cape Canaveral. What was to restore our prestige in the scientific world didn't get off the ground. It all looked pretty grim.

What happened to the United States? No longer Number One? The first thing that President Eisenhower did was to announce an extensive program to upgrade America's rocket technology. The citizen tax payers gave an affirmative nod to this, but science still had to find a scapegoat. They finally decided that the whole problem stemmed from the educational system. It was the schools! Those kids weren't learning anything. That's why we were behind! The children were just playing around. The school system needed reorganization, and, of course, the reorganization began.
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Dr. W.T. White came up with the High Academic Aptitude Group Plan. This plan would extend the learning span and give more challenge to the high academic students. These students would be in an honors group and would be taught by teachers that were carefully and thoughtfully selected. The junior highs were included in the program. Now, these high academic students would only be in honors classes for the basic subjects, English, science, math, history, but for the other subjects, they would be scheduled into the regular program. Dr. White assured all parents that calling attention to the high academic group would in no way lessen the effort of the school system to give every educable child the best possible opportunity for his complete growth and development. Dr. White promised a tightening up of all classes.

The fine thing about the honors program was its flexibility. When a student qualified to enter the program, he could. Always, it was the grades and the industrious and energetic attitudes that remained the key factors that got a student into or out of the high academic group.

In the elementary schools, the top twenty percent of the pupils were grouped in certain honors classes. Their teachers were selected especially to deal with these classes whose members ranked higher than average academically.

Dr. White said that this was not a crash program. It had been under consideration for a number of years. But, the sudden realization that the Soviet Union was surpassing the country would make any good educational plan come to the foreground quickly. Superintendent White noted, “This plan challenges the pupil by putting him on his own merits, abilities, and industry. It should go far in relieving the reported boredom of students, because their courses were slowed down by slow learners. It will spotlight the bright youngster who is not, for some reason, achieving to the top of his ability. It permits the school system to work with greater efficiency.”

The new plan first touched the science department. Since 1951, science had been taught in all twelve grades. It was required in the first eight grades, and then two years of science in high school were required in order to graduate. That would stay the same, except the course of study for the elementary grades changed to include an elementary approach to astronomy, geology, biology, electronics, physics, and chemistry. There were more courses offered in the senior highs, so that actually a student could take thirteen years of science in twelve years of schooling.



Then, of course, the science fair came into existence. Every year students from all over the city of Dallas entered scientific projects. Prizes for the most technical experiments were awarded. Scholarships were given to the students who actually made scientific discoveries. Our nation was planning to top Russia right there from the Dallas Convention Center where all the winning entries from the various schools were assembled and shown to the public.
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The mathematics curriculum was stepped up. The little ones in the first grade learned to court, learned to make figures, and learned to identify figures with objects. This had always been the course of study for the first grade. However, the first grade course was the only one that stayed the same. All through the other grades the program was expanded to include more problem solving. Added math courses were offered in the high school, so actually, a senior (if he wished) could take college freshman math. Usually the high school curriculum stopped with trigonometry. Now, calculus was offered.
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Under Dr. White's high achievement plan, the library was to become a learning nerve center at all levels of education. It had been predicted that with the advent of television, children might stop reading. This was not true according to the report of 1957. This was the year the question was asked, "Why can't Johnny read?" According to the library report Johnny could read and was reading more than ever in the DISD. Book fairs were celebrated that year, and this was a much easier fair for parents than the science fair. This fair was conducted by the li¬brarian, and she did all the work. The children just came and examined all the new books and learned about them and their authors. In the elementary schools, the children would dress up like their favorite fictional characters. Nevertheless, the children were reading.