The Afterlife of Sputnik (Episode 5)
Welcome back to the Coloniality, Western Science, and Critical Ethnic Studies in STEM Education dissertation!
This episode describes how the launch of Sputnik established outer space as the next frontier to be conquered and codified the coloniality of Western Science into STEM education.
TRANSCRIPT
This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one. Through this unique means, I convey to you and to all mankind, America's wish for peace on earth and good will towards men everywhere." (Eisenhower, 1958)
That was President Dight D. Eisenhower. His voice was the first voice broadcasted from Space as a prerecorded message sent from the Atlas B Rocket, on December 17, 1958.
In the last two episodes, we explored the coloniality of Western Science, to get to the root of the culture it is embedded in. The point of that being to better understand science education.
While I focused on botany and medicine as examples, all Western Science disciplines benefitted. The botanic networks played an intricate role in the competition between European countries, and in establishing them as colonial powers. Cash crops were cultivated on plantations, where the enslaved population was subjugated to multiple forms of violence. While we are no longer in that specific colonial period, coloniality, or the practices and structures that determine how society is ordered remains.
In this episode we’re going to examine how the coloniality of Western Science was codified into science education. There is a much longer history of science education in the United States, but I’m going to start with the Space Race because my purpose is not to give a history of science education in the United States, but to show how coloniality made its way into science education.
I’m starting with the launch of Sputnik I and the Space Race because it did two things.
Thing one. It established outer space as the last frontier to colonize in the name of “scientific curiosity” and global power. We will examine this first. Thing two. The US government’s response to Sputnik codified the coloniality of Western Science into STEM education.
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Hey listeners!
I'm LaToya Strong and I'm a doctoral candidate at The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York.
You are listening to my dissertation!
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In 1952, the International Council of Scientific Unions proclaimed the period of July 1, 1957-December 31, 1958 as the ‘International Geophysical Year’ or IGY. This year, which is actually 18 months, was a collaboration between 67 countries which included the USA and The Soviet Union (NASA, 2022).
This time-frame of 1957 - 1958 was important because of the high solar activity that would be happening during that time.The sun has a solar cycle which occurs every 11ish years. Every 11 years the magnetic field of the Sun flips so the North Pole becomes the South Pole and the South Pole becomes the North Pole. Up is down and down is up. This was an opportunity to learn more about the Sun and about the Earth because at this time not much was known about Earth’s natural processes. The IGY was an opportunity to learn more by focusing on 11 different geophysical fields.
In July 1955, three years after the IGY was established, the White House announced that the United States would launch an Earth-orbiting satellite for the IGY. Then in August, 1955 the Soviet Union also announced that they too would launch a satellite into space (NASA, 2022).
[Sputnik beep]
On October 4th, 1957, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) launched the world’s first satellite into orbit and it had the United States shooketh. I’m talking SWV weak in the knees because the thought was if the USSR could launch these satellites into space then they could also send a nuclear weapon to the United States. It was also about ego. It was in the midst of the Cold War which was a time of geopolitical tension between the USA and USSR.
The Space Race was a component of this and the Space Race was about prestige, reputation, and global power using outer space as the medium to illustrate those attributes to the world.
The White House Office of the Staff Research Group released a statement titled Reaction to the Soviet Satellite: A Preliminary Evaluation. The statement lists four effects that the launch of Sputnik had on world public opinion:
Soviet claims of scientific and technological superiority over the West and especially the U.S. have won greatly widened acceptance.
Public opinion in friendly countries shows decided concern over the possibility that the balance of military power has shifted or may soon shift to favor of the USSR.
The general credibility of Soviet propaganda has been greatly enhanced.
American prestige is viewed as having sustained a severe blow, and the American reaction, so marked by concern, discomfiture and intense interest, has itself increased the disquiet of friendly countries and increased the impact of the satellite. (Reaction to the Soviet Satellite – Preliminary Evaluation, October 1957)
Before the USA could blink, USSR launched Sputnik II on November 3, 1957, with a dog onboard. Another blow.
The first attempt to launch a satellite by the USA was on December 6th, 1957 and it was a failure. The satellite rose about 4 feet before crashing back into the launch pad. The media dubbed this Flopnik or Kaputnik (Silver, 2010). So in 1958, USA consolidated resources and established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA to lead the space exploration effort for the USA (NASA, 2022).
The Space Race continued with the USA and Soviet Union trading off accomplishments. One of those being the Apollo program for the US, which landed the first humans on the Moon.
Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides--time for a great new American enterprise--time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth [applause].
I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshalled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment. Recognizing the head start obtained by the Soviets with their large rocket engines, which gives them many months of lead time, and recognizing the likelihood that they will exploit this lead for some time to come in still more impressive successes, we nevertheless are required to make new efforts on our own. For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last [applause].
We take an additional risk by making it in full view of the world, but as shown by the feat of astronaut Shepard, this very risk enhances our stature when we are successful. But this is not merely a race. Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share. I therefore ask the Congress, above and beyond the increases I have earlier requested for space activities, to provide the funds which are needed to meet the following national goals: First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space...(Kennedy, 1961)
That was President John F. Kennedy who succeeded Eisenhower in 1960. What you heard was an excerpt from President Kennedy’s Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs delivered on May 25, 1961.
Two things prompted JFK’s push to place someone on the moon. Thing one. The Soviet Union had successfully sent Yuri Gagarin into space for one complete orbit around the Earth on April 12, 1961 and he was weightless for 89 minutes.
One month later on May 5, 1961 Alan Shepherd completed a 15 minute suborbital flight and was weightless for 5 minutes. The difference in these achievements painted the USA in a negative light because it implied that the Soviet Union had better technology and a stronger military.
Thing two. The Bay of Pigs, which was the US invasion of Cuba, was a failure. Again, not a good look globally for the US.
So landing a man on the moon became an urgent matter as the US felt the need to improve its reputation globally. When we break down JFK’s speech, the language of global dominance, expansionism, exploration, space as a new frontier is embedded throughout. This language in relation to outer space shows up again and again with US Presidents.
For me, the space program has always captured an essential part of what it means to be an American -- reaching for new heights, stretching beyond what previously did not seem possible. And so, as President, I believe that space exploration is not a luxury, it’s not an afterthought in America’s quest for a brighter future -- it is an essential part of that quest.
So today, I’d like to talk about the next chapter in this story. The challenges facing our space program are different, and our imperatives for this program are different, than in decades past. We’re no longer racing against an adversary. We’re no longer competing to achieve a singular goal like reaching the Moon. In fact, what was once a global competition has long since become a global collaboration. But while the measure of our achievements has changed a great deal over the past 50 years, what we do -- or fail to do -- in seeking new frontiers is no less consequential for our future in space and here on Earth.
So let me start by being extremely clear: I am 100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future. Because—(Applause). Because broadening our capabilities in space will continue to serve our society in ways that we can scarcely imagine. Because exploration will once more inspire wonder in a new generation -- sparking passions and launching careers. And because, ultimately, if we fail to press forward in the pursuit of discovery, we are ceding our future and we are ceding that essential element of the American character. (Obama, 2010)
That was an excerpt from a speech by President Barack Obama at the Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010. And here two non-sequential clips from President Donald Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address.
In reaffirming our heritage as a free nation, we must remember that America has always been a frontier nation. Now we must embrace the next frontier, America’s manifest destiny in the stars.
I am asking Congress to fully fund the Artemis program to ensure that the next man and the first woman on the Moon will be American astronauts using this as a launching pad to ensure that America is the first nation to plant its flag on Mars. (Trump, 2020)
Obama and Trump both referenced the past that allowed the USA to come into existence without naming that darker side. Phrases such as “Our ancestors braved the unknown; tamed the wilderness; settled the “Wild West” and “settled the New World” and “pursuit of discovery” is really calling forth that coloniality. The same ethos that drove Europe to colonize various regions of the World, is the same ethos that is driving the United State’s pursuit of space.
[Sputnik beep repeated 3x]
The launch of Sputnik I greatly influenced how the US viewed its education system, its military defense, and national security. In the immediate aftermath of Sputnik the federal government took steps to address both these areas in order to solve the apparent crisis.
In response to Sputnik, The National Science Board, which is the governing body of the National Science Foundation, prepared a statement. In their prepared statement the National Science Board outlined a short-term and a long-term plan to better utilize the nation’s scientists and engineers. As part of its long-term goal, the board’s statement urged for the acknowledgement that the future of the U.S. was dependent upon the “soundness of our system of education and our people’s response for scientific endeavor…” (Statement of the National Science Board in response to Russian Satellite, October 1957).
In its March 24, 1958 edition, Life Magazine ran an article that consisted of a photo-essay entitled Crisis in Education. In this article two sixteen year old boys, Alexey Kustkov from Moscow and Stephen Lapekas and one from Chicago, were profiled and compared (Furnas, 2015). The cover of the magazine featured the boys side by side under the banner title Crisis in Education: Exclusive Pictures of a Russian schoolboy vs. His U.S. Counterpart. Alexei is depicted as a serious schoolboy who engages in physics and spends his free time studying. His teachers are described as well trained with a firm hand on discipline.
By contrast, American student Stephen is relaxed and does not take his studies seriously. While he does well in his extra-curricular activities, they do not leave much time for serious studies. Although Stephen is taking English, American history and biology, the article states that they are at a less advanced level than those taken by his Russian counterpart. Overall, Alexei is the better-educated, more serious student and Stephen is representative of a systemic failing of the American education system. The article lists what it claims to be the most salient points of the US education crisis, namely that schools have been overcrowded and underfunded, teachers are underpaid, there is no consensus on what schools should teach, and there are no opportunities for smart kids to advance (Furnas, 1957).
To address the issues of failing education and national defense, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, or NDEA, into law on September 2, 1958. NDEA was a direct response to the USSR’s launch of the Sputnik I satellite. The purpose of the NDEA was “to strengthen the national defense and to encourage and assist in the expansion and improvement of educational programs to meet critical national needs; and for other purposes” (National Defense and Education Act, 1958). This would be accomplished through funding science and math programs as well as foreign language programs, all of which would serve the military.
This Act, which is an emergency undertaking to be terminated after four years, will in that time do much to strengthen our American system of education so that it can meet the broad and increasing demands imposed upon it by considerations of basic national Security. (Eisenhower, 1958)
The funding that the federal government was willing to give to states, was solely dependent on the fact that it would produce scientists that could ensure the “security” of the USA.
Sputnik was the catalyst, but the NDEA is the act that codified the coloniality of Western Science into science education.
In total, the NDEA had 10 titles or sections. I will highlight just a few.
Title I provided funding for loans for students attending higher education.
Title II provided funding to strengthen science, math, and modern foreign education.
Title III provided funding for graduate fellowships to increase the pool of university professors.
Title V provided funding for K-12 guidance counselors to test for and implement gifted programs. (National Defense Education Act, 1958)
These specifications for funding were an attempt to aid in the development of scientists, engineers, and speakers of more than one language who could help build the military for national security and global power.
From NDEA we’re going to jump ahead in the timeline and look at how this coloniality continues to show up in science education reform. We can look at several science education reform documents that highlight the security of the United States or competition with other other countries as a reason for the reform.
In 1990 the American Association for the Advancement of Science released Science for All Americans, which is about the need for scientific literacy, and what needs to be taught in schools for scientific literacy to be achieved in science, mathematics, and technology. One of the reasons for the need for scientific literacy that they give is,
America's future—its ability to create a truly just society, to sustain its economic vitality, and to remain secure in a world torn by hostilities—depends more than ever on the character and quality of the education that the nation provides for all of its children (AAAS, 1990, p.xiii).
They give the following reasons for developing the standards:
More and more jobs demand advanced skills, requiring that people be able to learn, reason, think creatively, make decisions, and solve problems. An understanding of science and the processes of science contributes in an essential way to these skills. Other countries are investing heavily to create scientifically and technically literate work forces. To keep pace in global markets, the United States needs to have an equally capable citizenry. (AAAS, 1990, p. 1-2)
In 2012 The National Academies published A Framework for K-12 Science Education, which the NGSS, the New Generation Science Standards is based on. Their passage reads,
Although the intrinsic beauty of science and a fascination with how the world works have driven exploration and discovery for centuries, many of the challenges that face humanity now and in the future—related, for example, to the environment, energy, and health—require social, political, and economic solutions that must be informed deeply by knowledge of the underlying science and engineering. Many recent calls for improvements in K-12 science education have focused on the need for science and engineering professionals to keep the United States competitive in the international arena. Although there is little doubt that this need is genuine, a compelling case can also be made that understanding science and engineering, now more than ever, is essential for every American citizen. (National Research Council, 2011, p. 1-I)
Western Science is enmeshed in the culture of colonization. As much as we would like to ignore that fact, it is always present in both nefarious and insidious ways. The structures that gave us Western Science still haunt us. The competition for global power, military strength, expansionism, racial and human hierarchies, and capitalism still guide the various science fields today. These structures also converge at outer space, which is why Sputnik was a pivotal moment in science and science education. Sputnik solidified outer space as the next frontier, which is a direct continuation of colonization. Actually, to some extent this isn’t even coloniality operating anymore, but the actual real-time colonization of a place.
The launch of Sputnik also codified this coloniality into STEM education through the passing of the NDEA.
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And so we’ve completed our journey of looking at the history of Western Science, of understanding the culture of colonialism that allowed it, it being Western Science, to modernize. And how that history has reverberated through to the present.
Next week, we return to Tina Campt and Black Feminist Futurity and also talk about Abolition Science. Then we delve into ethnic studies and critical ethnic studies.
Thank you to Makeba, Derin, and my brother Ephram for reading quotes.
Thank you for tuning into this episode.
For coherency and flow of narrative, I did not always name who I was citing or drawing from so please visit the transcript to see all citations and references.
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Click here for works cited/references