The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was signed into law on September 2, 1958, providing funding to United States education institutions at all levels.

NDEA was among many science initiatives implemented by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 to increase the technological sophistication and power of the United States alongside, for instance, DARPA and NASA. It followed a growing national sense that U.S. scientists were falling behind scientists in the Soviet Union. The early Soviet success in the Space Race catalyzed a national sense of unease with Soviet technological advances, especially after the Soviet Union launched the first-ever satellite, Sputnik, the previous year.

The act authorized funding for four years, increasing funding per year: for example, funding increased on eight program titles from $183 million in 1959 to $222 million in 1960. In total, over a billion dollars was directed towards improving American science curricula. However, in the aftermath of McCarthyism, a mandate was inserted in the act that all beneficiaries must complete an affidavit disclaiming belief in the overthrow of the U.S. government. This requisite loyalty statement stirred concern and protest from the American Association of University Professors and over 153 institutions.

Cause and purpose

The NDEA was influenced by the Soviet launch of the satellite Sputnik on October 4, 1957. U.S. citizens feared that education in the USSR was superior to that in the United States, and Congress reacted by adding the act to bring U.S. schools up to speed. This commission aimed to have more American men and women attend higher education programs and graduate from 4-year colleges and universities. In the long term, the NDEA was intended to be used in tandem with other educational programs created by the federal government. By 1960, however, college enrollments had expanded to 3.6 million. By 1970, 7.5 million students were attending colleges in the United States, or 40 percent of college-age youths.

The act, therefore, was designed to fulfill two purposes. First, it was designed to provide the country with specific defense oriented personnel. This included providing federal help to foreign language scholars, area studies centers, and engineering students. Second it provided financial assistance—primarily through the National Defense Student Loan program—for thousands of students who would be part of the growing numbers enrolling at colleges and universities in the 1960s. The NDEA spurred the creation of federal and university funded college loan programs that still exist today.

Breakdown by title

Title I

Title I of the NDEA serves as an introduction to the content and purposes of the Act.

Title II

Title II created the National Defense Student Loan (NDSL) Program, and Title II authorizes the provision of student loans and provides terms by which they may be awarded. These loans were aimed at needy students who had advanced capabilities in science, math, engineering, or foreign languages. Initially, Title II provided scholarships (also known as grants) rather than loans. However, some members of Congress expressed worry about the message sent by giving students a "free ride." The House version of the bill eliminated scholarship money, while the Senate reduced the amount of scholarship money. By the time the bill was passed into law, student aid was exclusively loan-based. Title II also offered a system of loan forgiveness if the student went on to teach in a public elementary or secondary school.

Title III

The purpose of Title III was to provide matching grants for public schools and to provide loans to nonprofit schools to allow them to get more equipment and materials to provide better instruction in math, science, and foreign languages. These funds were also allowed to be used to remodel some laboratories on school campuses. Title III, though never formally repealed, has not been funded since 1978. Funding for this type of program now falls under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and the remodeling sections of the act falls under the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965. Title III provides equipment, materials and state matching funds to develop mathematics, science, and foreign language instruction and professional development. Title III also encouraged cooperation between teachers and researchers. Title IV provides funding for graduate fellowships in order to increase the number of graduate-level professionals and university professors. Priority was given to students who stated an interest in becoming a professor. However, certain fields (such as folklore) were specifically exempted from these fellowships. Title IV was also one of the only two federal programs (along with Title VI of the NDEA) in existence at the time that gave any funding to the humanities.

Title V

Title V includes provisions for the training of guidance counselors and the implementation of testing programs to identify gifted students. This laid the groundwork for Academically Gifted (AG) and Gifted & Talented (GT) programs and began the trend of using standardized testing in schools to measure competency. Title V had a great influence on gifted education. However, since the program started in the 1920s, the defining percentage that marks "giftedness" has remained constant. Title VI provides funding for language and area studies programs. "Area studies" includes such subjects as African American studies and Latin American studies.

Title VII

Title VII provided funding for research in the more effective use of technology for educational purposes.

Title VIII

Title VIII provided funding for vocational training in order to better prepare citizens for the workforce.

Title IX

Title IX established the Science Information Institute and Science Information Council in order to disseminate scientific information and assist the government in matters of a highly technical nature.

Title X

Title X contains miscellaneous provisions regarding legal and pragmatic details of the Act.

Controversy

The NDEA includes Title X, Section 1001 (f), a mandate that all beneficiaries of the act complete an affidavit disclaiming belief in the overthrow of the U.S. government. Kennedy interpreted this case proved the affidavit clause to be ineffective, and, in spite of—rather than because of—protest prior to 1961, the disclaimer requirement was excised.

Footnotes

References

  • Barksdale Clowse, Barbara. Brainpower For The Cold War: The Sputnik Crisis and National Defense Education Act of 1958 (Greenwood Press; 1981) 225 pages
  • Copy of the original National Defense Education Act (P.L. 85-864; 72 Stat. 1580), History of Federal Education Policy website
  • "National Defense Education Act", Infoplease.com. Sandbox Networks, Inc.
  • Urban, Wayne J. More Than Science and Sputnik: The National Defense Education Act of 1958 (University of Alabama Press; 2010) 247 pages