Chris Matthews
That was October 1957. Overnight, we and our
parents shared a scared new world in which the
Russians were ahead and we, the invincible
Americans, were behind. The tortoise had beaten
the hare. "Artificial satellites will pave the way for
space travel," the Soviet news agency Tass rubbed
it in.
As it turned out, the specter of Sputnik was the best
thing that happened to us in the Cold War. The
word served as a national recess buzzer. It was time
to get back to class, time to get serious. Either
America produced more top-grade engineers and
scientists, or we got beat by the Communists. I was
one of the winners.
Thanks to the National Defense Education Act, a
direct response to the Sputnik scare, I got to go to
a great college on a fat loan that carried a skinny 3
percent interest rate. I didn't have to pay back a
dime until after graduation, service in the military,
the Peace Corps, whatever. Two generations later,
America faces a new education scare.
This time, the shiver of fear running down our backs
is not caused by Communists abroad, but by the
digital divide here at home. I'm talking about the
Grand Canyon of difference between the preteen
who masters the Internet and the high school senior
who writes and counts like he's never seen eighth
grade.
Once again, this country may perform far better
cramming for the final exam than it did on the pop
quiz. The same Sputnik syndrome that awoke us in
time to beat the Russians to the moon has alerted us
to the specter looming today in our own
neighborhoods.
This past week, President Bush pushed a major
education program as his first bill before Congress.
He wants lots more federal money for education in
exchange for tough new standards for student
success.
Serious Democrats have joined him in the mission.
While disagreeing with Bush's proposal for private
school vouchers as a last resort, Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. George Miller, a
Democrat from Martinez, both spotted areas of
broad agreement with the new president.
Both parties could make history here. For years, a
prime Republican ambition was to eliminate the
education department. The prime Democratic
ambition was to defend the education establishment.
Together, education leaders on Capitol Hill can do
what their predecessors did four decades ago: pass
a test of national character we are right on the eve
of
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
WALT DISNEY taught us kids that America would
get to space first. Tomorrowland belonged to us.
Then, in seventh grade, I heard the word that
changed everything: "Sputnik."
JWR contributor Chris Matthews is the author of Hardball. and hosts a CNBC show of the same name. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
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