Admiral Rickover was born in Makow, Russia, a city now located in Poland, in 1900 (Encarta 2000). He immigrated to the United States along with his family when he was a young child. He was raised in Chicago and attended public schools (Lepage 1969). He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1922. He trained as an engineer and was named assistant director of  the atomic energy Manhattan Project in 1946 and 1947. Admiral Rickover is considered to be the “father” of the nuclear submarine because of his responsibility in its development as chief of the Naval Reactors Branch of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and head of the Nuclear Power Division of the U.S. Navy. He personally supervised and planned the construction of the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine launched in 1954. It was during this period that Admiral Rickover became seriously concerned with the curriculum and quality of education in the United States. He wrote several books on what he considersed the failure of education in the U.S. along with many books on nuclear power and submarines. During his lifetime he was the recipient of many distinguished awards, including a gold congressional medal in 1959, the Distinguished Service Medal in 1961, the Enrico Fermi Award in 1965, and the Medal of  Freedom in 1980. Admiral Rickover retired from the Navy in 1982 after 60 years of service. He passed away in 1986 (Encarta 2000).

As stated earlier, the Admiral became concerned with the U.S. educational system with a particular interest in curriculum. This was a direct result of his participation in the development of the nuclear age. As he began to recruit highly educated specialists to work on his staff, he found that these people were very hard to find. The admiral himself had taken extensive cousework in nuclear physics and engineering and pushed his closest associates to do the same (Murrow 1959). He set up courses in nuclear education at M.I.T. and founded the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power Schools (Lepage 1969). He then became one of the most outspoken advocates of an educational system that met the challenge of the atomic era.

His first book centered on education was a collection of essays calling for  improved standards of education, particularly in math and science entitled Education and Freedom . In this book the Admiral states that, “education is the most important problem facing the United States today” and “only the massive upgrading of the scholastic standards of our schools will guarantee the future prosperity and freedom of the Republic.” (Rickover 1959).

The Admiral did extensive studies of educational systems in other countries including Russia, Britain, and Switzerland. In an interview with Edward R. Murrow, he stated “for if our people are not properly educated in accordance with the terrific requirements of this rapidly spiraling scientific and industrial civilization, we are bound to go down. The Russians,” he added, “apparently have recognized this.” (Rickover 1959). The two other books centering on education were comparisons of Swiss and British schools to U. S. Schools. In 1962 he wrote Swiss Schools and Ours: Why Theirs are Better and in 1963 he wrote American Education-A National Failure: The Problem of Our Schools and What We Can Learn from England. The last book included his report to congressional hearings on the education problem, which resulted from a nation wide fear of Russian superiority, after the Russians successfully launched the first satellite, Sputnik. The admiral suggested that there are three things a school must do:  First, it must transmit to the pupil a substantial body of knowledge; second, it must develop in him the necessary intellectual skill to apply this knowledge to the problems he will encounter in adult life; and third, it must inculcate in him the habit of judging issues on the basis of verified fact and logical reasoning. (Rickover, 1963 p. 122)

It is plain to see that Admiral Rickover’s philosophy on education must be categorized without a doubt, under essentialism. This can be seen over and over again with his demand for a return to the basics, a beefing up of science and mathematics  courses and a “de-emphasis of life-adjustment schools and progressive educationalists.” (Rickover, 1959). Through his outspoken and written advocacy for school reform in the 1950s and 1960s, along with widespread fears brought on by the Cold War, curriculum was changed in American schools to produce students more prepared to compete in the ever-growing technological world.
 

Bibliography

Encarta 2000. (2000). Encarta Online Deluxe, Accessed: July 6, 2000  HYPERLINK http://encarta.msn.com.
 
Lepage, W. L. Liberty, Science, and Law, The Newcomen Society in North America, New York:  1969.

Rickover, H. G. American Education:  A National Failure, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York:  1963.

Rickover, H. G. Education and Freedom, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York:  1959.

Report Prepared by:
Jacqueline Ducros