Admiral Rickover analyzes barriers to school reform in the United States based on his observations of the superior Swiss education system. Key barriers include: 1) an overemphasis on pedagogy rather than subject-matter expertise in teacher training, which discourages highly intelligent professionals from becoming teachers; 2) subordinate status of teachers to administrators rather than being viewed as true professionals; and 3) extreme decentralization across 35,000 school districts, which prevents effective state or national control and reform efforts.

1. SWISS SCHOOLS
AND OURS: -
NHY THEIRS ARE BETTER
ADMIRAL H. G. RICKDVER
, .

2. SSAO: $3.95
Admiral H. G. Rickover requires no
introduction. His crusading efforts for
the improvement of American educa-
tion are as vigorous and forthright as
his dedication to the development of
our atomic navy. This book is a
trenchant, no-holds-barred study of
education in a European democratic
country, Switzerland, and of how the
lessons learned there can be applied
in the American system.
The Admiral describes how Switzer-
land has achieved an integration of
mass and academic educ.ation which
gives each student the best of what
is most suitable for him, and he shows
that because of a longer day and a
longer school year (240 days com-
pared with 180 in the United States),
the Swiss youngsters spend one third
more time in the classroom than their
American counterparts. All Swiss pu-
pils spend four to six years in elemen-
tary school together and then go on to
specialized schools, according to their
desires and abilities.
Admiral Rickover also stresses that
in Switzerland the school is not ex-
pected to do the whole job, and the
family supplements schoolwork with
extra reading at home. He emphasizes
that moral training is the responsibility
of the parents and not of the teachers.
(Continued on second flap)

3. (Continued: from ~first flap)
Constructively, the. 'Admiral makes
some suggestions for America in the
light of Swiss experience. We should
begin by improving the training of our
administrative personnel: a superin-
tendent or principal should first of all
be an excellent teacher, rather than
someone with limited experience in the ~)
classroom who has acquired adminis- ~'
trative training, or, even worse, a foot- ~.,
ball coach turned principal. He also 'I
feels that there is a great need for a
nationally determined standard of
course programs, so that there wi,Ube '
greater uniformity of requirements for -
secondary diplomas and college de-
grees. (He deplores the expensive,
time-consuming College Entrance Ex-
amination Board tests, which must be
given to all entering students because
colleges, cannot rely upon the varia-
tions in grades and recommendations
of high schools across the country.)
This is the third title in the Council
for Basic Education Series. The first
was The Case for Basic Education, and
the second, Tomorrow's Illiterates.
These books are in the service of a
good cause: better education and bet-
ter schools for Americans.
Jacket design by Edith Allard
1."
..
ATLANf,zC-LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS
AR~ PUBLISHED BY
LITTLE,. B,Ro'WN AND COMPANY
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY 'PRESS

4. 1./
P .~~ > ~.~-.:, ~
. Admiral Rickover is 'qgraduate ofColumbia 'U~iversity
. and of the Naval Academy and. has made'hfs'career the:
United States Navy. AHJ10qgh his name is associated'
primarily with theNautilus, he'has in tactdeveloped seven
different types of atomic-power 'plants for submarines 'as
wellas those of the nuclear cruiser LongBeach, the air- .
craft carrier Enterprtse, and the' destroyer 'Ieader 'Bain-
bridge. For all of t:!h,ese
works. he is knd,Wnasthe father
of the .atomic navy. He was also responsible for the first
. -central .staticn atomic power plant. theShtppingport (Pa.)
. ' Station. . ~. '
. - ... • ,I • • , I ". .r
. Ad miral.Rickover hq§,,,writt;enand spokenwidely on, ed- .
ucation. His concern f8:i the subject resulted in'
. . - <, -:"~"'"
earli.er!;• an
. bookr,~' ucation and Freedom:,.published in 1958. . .
"". .l,.. ~;
<

5. COPYRIGHT © 1962 BY THE COUNCIL FOR BASIC ·"'T".
E" ........
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS BOOK M&"I"
SAGES l,N A REVIEW TO BE PRINTED IN A MAGAZINE 0..
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 6:2-g5_~
FIRST EDITION
The author wishes to thank Modern Age for perIIl1SS10n
Harold L. Clapp's article on Swiss education,
ATLANTIC-LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS
ARE PUBLISHED BY
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS
Published simultaneously in C~
by Little, Brown & Company (Cfl1lI1IIo) lizItimi
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF A)lL£U

6. o all who :6.ght and labor
t America's children may
become the best educated in
the world.

7. Contents
clmowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
iers to School Reform 3
21
e Swiss Pattern of Education 47
e Continental University 62
tandards and Achievements: Maturity Level 85
_ chievements: Elementary-Lower Secondary
Level 104
Education for Democratic Citizenship 140
Maturity Diploma and American Bachelor's
Degree: Documentation to Chapter V 168

8. 6 "SWISS S€H()Ql:S "":AND: OURS

9. Barriers to School Reform 7
btain 'abroad (and usually tuition-free!) in academic sec-
schools, unless we attract teachers of comparable intelli-
and professional expertise into our public school system. It
do to dismiss what these European schools accomplish by
_:s:::nguP the stereotyped class-vs-rnass argument used by edu-
_rn;ich: whenever comparisons are made between American and
_::':":)4931l education. For the academic secondary schools run
..... ...._..o~to other secondary schools where the pace is slower; these
schools might be compared with our high schoolss.the
beanic ones more closely resemble our liberal arts colleges.
~1f..,;..j=lS in the academic schools are as much memb~rs of a
profession as are lawyers, physicians, etc. Their grasp
- subjects they teach equals that of a lawyer's knowledge of
.. ey devote as many years of university study to acquiring
wledge, besides learning the necessary pedagogic skill to
it to their pupils. You will not draw people of that caliber
school system if you let them be bossed by administrators
as too often happens here, actually meddle with teaching
ieln:sIDlg textbooks, interfering with grading and promotion),
will people whose I.Q. is high enough to be in the "profes-
range submit to certification requirements demanding at-
_C3:!lce at the kind of dreary "education" courses we inflict on
ceachers, That we look upon public-school teachers as tech-
rather than professionals is revealed by excessive emphasis
_ gogy and neglect of subject matter in American teacher-
_:LJ,......u_l;; programs, and certification requirements. Educational
""",,,L-"',"-WU.lll itself, domin~ted as it is bX school administrators and
~~:.ers of the teachers," 'has the curious idea iliat what makes
er a "professional" is his having taken a specified number
es in pedagogy. And, what is odder still, that courses in
administration make a person not only a "professional"
_~,tor but one-of higher. rank than the teacher!
subordinating tea~h{~rsto a.dminiskators we hinder reform

10. SWIS~ SCHOOLS AND OURS
in another way. Administrators tend to be overly concerned with
the smooth functioning of their organizations, hence they resist
reforms that upset accustomed routines and work programs. In
contrast, teachers share with professional people a genuine desire
to improve their own performance. In American education key
I)
positions where reform can be furthered or hindered at will are
today held by people who by personal conviction, position and
livelihood are identified with the status quo in education. No
wonder reform comes at a snail's pace.
Structure of American education: The greatest obstacle to
school reform, however, is the extreme decentralization of Ameri-
can education. The country is split into some 35,000 school dis-
tricts that are virtually independent educational sovereignties.
The states have the constitutional power but rarely exercise ef-
fective control over what is taught in their schools.t The federal
government keeps hands off entirely, except for handing over
public funds. How effectively this stymies public demand for
thoroughgoing school improvement does not need to be spelled
out in detail. It means the American people must, as it were,
conduct 35,000 reform campaigns. Any organization subject to
public control knows full well it is to its advantage to, prevent
state or 'federal control and keep supervision at the local level.
(0 This is seen in the "Albrecht Report," which polled teachers and admin-
istrators in California on a number of specific questions concerned with
teacher training; a substantial majority held their "professional" courses in
pedagogy in very low esteem. Results of Dr. Gustav Albrecht's initial survey
are reprinted in Phi Delta Kappan, December, 1960, along with several
attacks on it by professional educators. • .
t New York is an exception; through its Regents Examinations it exerts
some influence on scholastic standards. Recently a New York University team
studying the State Education Department bitterly criticized these exams,
suggesting "they discourage the use of modern teaching procedures which
represent the 'growing edge' of the teaching profession." Article by David H.
Beetle in the Knickerbocker News, Sept. 17, 1960. There is a movement
afoot to set up a similar system in California, fought with equal bitterness
by the educators there, of course. .