Deck 8: National School Reform: The Early Cold War ERA

Question 1

Discuss Conant's ideological and political-economic justifications for the system of tracking or ability grouping. In your opinion, are these justifications consistent with John Dewey's democratic ideal of ensuring the "all-around growth of every member of society"? Defend your view.

Answer 1

No answer

Question 2

Conant stated, "I doubt if society can make a graver mistake than to provide advanced higher education of a specialized nature." However, today we place great emphasis on preparing every student for college or university study. Take a position with regard to these two extremes in ideology and defend your view.

Answer 2

No answer

Question 3

In contrast to Conant's view, Van Doren asserted that it is dangerous to educate individuals primarily for national interests. Analyze this assertion and evaluate the degree to which Van Doren's viewpoint addresses your assessment of the needs of modern society.

Answer 3

No answer

Question 4

In your view, which educational thinker-Conant or Van Doren-offers an educational vision that is more likely to serve the needs of all the members of a diverse society such as our own: male and female, rich and poor, and of African, Asian, European and Latino descent, among others?

Question 5

Explain why it might be argued that Conant's educational recommendations reinforced social class advantages (and disadvantages) and tended to cement existing class lines. Do you agree or disagree with this argument? Support your perspective.

Question 6

The post-World War II period in the United States was marked by

A) economic growth.
B) stock market failure and economic depression.
C) strong alliances with the Soviet Union.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 7

Public fear of Soviet communism

A) was irrelevant to educational policy discussion in the 1950s.
B) fueled fears about the inadequacy of American schools.
C) helped reduce the national defense budget.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 8

In the cold war era, centralized and expert decision making

A) was subject to general mistrust.
B) no longer conflicted with democratic ideals.
C) was viewed as a direct route to progress.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 9

Which of the following is true of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)?

A) It offered a series of progressively simpler questions that aided learning.
B) Conant believed that it penalized slow learners and people who had a delayed intellectual awakening.
C) It helped determine a child's inherent abilities as early as age five.
D) Conant believed that it offered a nearly foolproof method for ascertaining academic promise.

Question 10

The success of the GI Bill of Rights demonstrated that

A) Conant's assumptions about talent were questionable.
B) the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a reliable predictor of college success.
C) the federal government should leave educational policy to the states.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 11

As Harvard's president, Conant viewed vocational education as

A) anti-intellectual.
B) antidemocratic.
C) consistent with equality of opportunity.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 12

Which of the following is true of Arthur Bestor's beliefs about schooling?

A) He rejected mixed-ability classes and regarded the comprehensive high school as an unfortunate vestige of a less complicated era.
B) He asserted that "education is America's first line of defense" in competing with the Soviet Union.
C) He maintained that the primary purpose of schooling should be intellectual training.
D) He believed that technical and scientific education for a small, talented elite took precedence over all other kinds of schooling.

Question 13

Conant believed that the improvement of American public secondary education required

A) fundamental changes in American schooling.
B) no radical changes in the basic pattern of American education.
C) the elimination of vocational education programs.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 14

For Conant, the comprehensive high school

A) increased class distinctions.
B) sufficiently challenged the academically talented.
C) avoided many of the social cleavages that characterized the other societies he had investigated.
D) was extremely efficient as it pushed children into college preparatory courses regardless of their academic ability.

Question 15

In the progressive era, modern liberals believed that a strong central government was

A) a hindrance to big banking.
B) the only real route to freedom.
C) a potential enemy to individual independence.
D) totalitarian and anti-American.

Question 16

In 1945, Charles Prosser declared that

A) schools were to play an important role in competition with Soviet communism.
B) the comprehensive high school minimized class distinctions and avoided many of the social cleavages that characterized the other societies he had investigated.
C) the overriding purpose of schools involved supplying the armed forces with adequate personnel and training people to meet the nation's critical needs.
D) schools had failed to educate the majority of high school youth for the demands of modern life.

Question 17

Conant believed that vocational education

A) would meet the needs of the less academically able.
B) was antidemocratic.
C) belonged in a separate school system.
D) might cause competent students to drop out of school.

Question 18

Which of the following was one of Conant's blind spots in the context of American education?

A) Vocational education
B) Foreign language programs
C) The long-term consequences of the great depression
D) The education of females

Question 19

Conant advocated expansion of the junior college movement because it would contribute to

A) social stability.
B) employable skills.
C) equal educational opportunity.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 20

In the authors' view, "national interest" was defined for Conant by

A) what the majority of voters believed it to be.
B) what those in leadership positions believed it to be.
C) what school teachers believed it to be.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 21

The authors portray Conant's view of meritocracy as

A) elitist.
B) democratic.
C) realistic.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 22

Which of the following is true of the GI Bill of Rights?

A) It provided full college scholarships to all veterans regardless of their academic "aptitudes."
B) After its passage, more nonveterans than veterans distinguished themselves in academically rigorous courses.
C) It proved that the "late bloomer" was a myth perpetuated by the American public.
D) It was one of the greatest academic successes in American history.

Question 23

When Van Doren asks, "How many men are capable of freedom?" he implies agreement with

A) Conant, who believed in meritocracy.
B) John Dewey, who believed in developmental democracy.
C) Admiral Rickover, who believed in a highly selective educational system.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 24

Van Doren believes individuals should be educated for

A) citizenship.
B) democracy.
C) thinking well.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 25

When Van Doren calls for liberal and vocational education for all citizens, he seeks

A) to prepare people for jobs.
B) equality of education.
C) comprehensive high schools.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 26

When Conant agreed to assume Harvard's presidency, he attributed the perceived decline in the quality of the Harvard faculty to

A) his predecessor's preference for scholars with broad liberal arts backgrounds but little specialized knowledge.
B) its use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), which manipulated students with its increasingly tempting "traps."
C) its penalization of late bloomers and the veterans of World War II.
D) the fact that his predecessor did not belong to the elite circle of Boston Brahmins.

Question 27

Compared to the educational reforms of the progressive era, Conant's reforms can best be described as

A) an extension of earlier reforms.
B) a reversal of earlier reforms.
C) an effort incomparable to earlier reforms.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 28

When Van Doren writes that the person should "be understood as an end, not a means," his idea is that

A) people should be educated for specific social and political structures.
B) each person should be educated for his or her probable destiny in society.
C) the most human capacities of each person should be developed.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 29

Which of the following is a reason why the Congress passed the GI Bill in 1944?

A) To awaken rank-and-file teachers to the new demands of modern society
B) To grant college subsidies only to a select group of veterans who had demonstrated high intellectual capacity
C) To forestall massive postwar unemployment
D) To prevent students from nonacademic backgrounds from entering the academic mainstream

Question 30

Why did Van Doren say that democracy wants millions of one-man revolutions?

A) Because of his classical liberal faith in revolution as a route to social progress
B) Because the result might be a nation of persons worth organizing
C) Because each person is an equal representative for society
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 31

According to Van Doren, education wishes to perfect _____.

A) each person's role in society
B) individuals as a group to be developed into democratic society
C) the powers of the person
D) the understanding of democracy

Question 32

According to an analogy Van Doren made to Plato's view of aristocracy, democracy should be a condition in which _____.

A) all men surpass themselves, growing into new possibilities
B) everyone tries to surpass one another, in order to strive for the best
C) all men play an important role in society
D) society treats all individuals fairly by giving each person a designated role to carry out

Question 33

The Educational Policy Commission asserted that

A) the "late bloomer" was a myth perpetuated by an American public unwilling to accept fully one of education's chief functions.
B) more students should be encouraged to rise to the top of the social pyramid.
C) only the 15 or 20 percent of students going on to college should be encouraged to take a full complement of academic subjects.
D) only the most academically competent students should be trained in vocational efficiency and civic competence.

Question 34

Conant believed guidance counselors played a critical role in

A) keeping wealthier students out of vocational coursework.
B) forestalling permanent class stratification.
C) sorting students according to their ability.
D) forestalling massive postwar unemployment.

Question 35

Conant found that by mixing students of vastly different backgrounds, the comprehensive high school

A) weakened the position of radical elements on campus.
B) would lead to the explosion of the "social dynamite."
C) would enhance American freedom by helping the United States keep pace with the Soviets.
D) minimized the class distinctions that hurt other societies.

Question 36

Conant's failure to explore the implications of Koestler's work is reflected in his apparent will to

A) publicly acknowledge the superiority of Soviet ideology.
B) ignore the importance of vocational education.
C) disregard American dominance for the pursuit of knowledge.
D) sacrifice the pursuit of knowledge to social goals.

Question 37

Which of the following factors contributed to the American economy during the 1920s?

A) The ivory trade
B) The 1929 stock market crash
C) The New Deal legislation
D) The New Deal legislation and the 1929 stock market crash

Question 38

In the context of school reform in the postwar era, which of the following is true of Admiral Hyman Rickover?

A) He declared that schools had failed to educate the majority of high school youth for the demands of modern life.
B) He believed in educating all children well rather than focusing on a small, talented elite.
C) He believed that mixed-ability classes would enhance American freedom by helping the United States keep pace with the Soviets.
D) He regarded the comprehensive high school as an unfortunate vestige of a less complicated era.

Question 39

Conant believed there was a need for a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) because the test would identify able scholars. What program and school was this originally intended for?

A) Scholarships to all colleges
B) The National Scholarship Program for Harvard
C) The National Scholarship Program for vocational schooling
D) The GI Bill for the college of the student's choice

Question 40

Why did Conant believe that an excessively large population of college students might cause disruptions in the social order?

A) He did not want government to spend the money for more colleges.
B) He believed that the nation would have a decrease in factory workers.
C) He conceived that an increase of college-bound students would mean colleges would have to lower their standards for these students and that college-educated students would be frustrated with a job market that did not require so many college degrees.
D) He believed that lower-class people would not make good use of the opportunity to go to college.

Question 41

The GI Bill was an academic success because

A) two million veterans took advantage of the opportunity to attend college.
B) almost one-fourth of veterans probably would never have attended college at all without the bill's subsidies.
C) more veterans distinguished themselves in academically rigorous courses than nonveterans.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 42

Mark Van Doren's desire to have only one kind of education for all is due to his belief that

A) all men should be treated as ends in themselves, not as means to social ends.
B) all men should receive the best education society can provide.
C) the best man will make the best citizen.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 43

Which of the following is true of the passage of the GI Bill of Rights in 1944?

A) It proved the fact that students from nonacademic backgrounds could not flourish in an academic atmosphere.
B) Over two million veterans attended college through the full college scholarships it provided.
C) It led to an influx of nontraditional students, which further led to a lowering of academic standards.
D) More nonveterans than veterans made use of it and distinguished themselves in academically rigorous courses.