1950s
Events include: release of
the polio vaccine, Commission on Civil Rights
established, the red scare, Korean War, creation of the
Warsaw pact, beatnik culture, launching of Sputnik, TV
replaces the radio as the dominant mass media,
opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway makes Duluth
accessible to the Atlantic Ocean
1950s family watching TV
U.S. presidents:
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)
Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
1959 |
James B. Conant, under the
auspices of the Educational Testing Service, publishes
The American High School Today: A First Report to
Interested Citizens. The study recommends ability
testing, ability grouping, and differentiated curricula.
1958 |
Life Magazine compares educational systems in the
U.S.A. and the Soviet Union.
1956 |
Council of the Great City Schools is founded.
Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) is founded.
1955 |
Rudolf Flesh publishes Why Johnny Can’t Read.
1954 | Brown vs. Board of Education outlawed racial
segregation of public education facilities.
National Council on
Accreditation of Teacher Education is founded.
1952 | American School Counselor Association (ASCA) is founded.
“It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be
expected to succeed in life if he is denied the
opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity…is a
right which must be available to all on equal terms.
Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”—Chief Justice Earl Warren, May 17, 1954
School segregation protest
|
Timeline
1959
Norine Odland is hired as
professor of children’s literature and puts the
college
“on the map” in children’s literature. She establishes relationships
with many famous children's authors, including Tomie
DePaola, Mary Rogers, Natalie Babbitt, and Beverly
Cleary, and is instrumental in securing the estate
and book royalties of author Marguerite Henry as a
gift to the college.
 1958
Dora V. Smith (B.A.
’16, Ph.D. ’28) retires after 41 years of teaching
English and children’s literature. She was a leader
in the field, serving as president of the National
Council of Teachers of English, chairing the
National Commission of English Curriculum, and
serving for many years on editorial boards for textbooks. Upon her retirement, the University awards
her the Outstanding Achievement Award and the
college
establishes the Dora V. Smith Scholarship Fund in
her honor.
1957
After years of cooperation
and close relations, the Institute of Child Welfare
(later renamed the Institute of Child Development)
officially affiliates with the college. The
collective expertise of the institution includes the socialization, learning, and language
acquisition of children from infancy through the
preschool years.
The Minnesota State
Legislature passes the first legislation on special
education needs. Subsequently an advisory committee
is formed, and chaired by Professor Maynard Reynolds
for the next four years. Professor Reynolds, the
first faculty member and department chair of the
Department of Special Education, was instrumental in
establishing the first statewide association, the
Minnesota Counsel for Special Education, and he
played a key role in obtaining the state
appropriation.
1955
 With the broadcast of a
series of electronic chirps, the Soviet craft
Sputnik becomes the first artificial satellite in
mankind’s history. The significance of this
technological achievement, along with the failure of
the U.S. to reach the milestone first, shocks
educators around the country. The college teams with
several Minnesota school districts to devise a plan
to strengthen education in the state through
improved research, instructional programs, and
training.
1954
The college is among the first institutions accredited
by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
Education.
 1952
Walter Cook, a professor of
educational psychology in the college, becomes the
next dean. A member of the faculty since 1938 and a
prolific researcher, he had coined the term
“irreducible variability” to describe the individual
differences of each child, which he urges educators
to accept and value. Unfortunately, he has little
time for additional research once he becomes dean.
During his eleven years in office, Minnesota
needs nearly 1,000 new teachers each year to keep up
with demand, and the college must continually
increase its facilities and improve its programs to
keep up.
1951
Sherwood O. Berg receives a Ph.D. His career later
takes him to the directorship of the University of
Minnesota Extension Service, service as a U.S.
Agricultural Attaché around the world, and the
presidency of South Dakota State University, where
he works to attract international students to
campus.
 Dean Wesley Peik’s death
propels faculty member Marcia Edwards into the
position of interim dean. A master administrator,
she has a firm command of the problems and
challenges facing the college and professional
training for teachers in general. University
President James Lewis Morrill tries to convince
Edwards to assume the deanship permanently, but she
refuses. Although she regarded herself as qualified
to assume the responsibilities of dean, she believes
that Minnesota educators are not ready to see a
woman as leader of the College of Education.
1950
Swollen by post-war
optimism and the Baby Boom generation’s demands for
more teachers, college enrollment soars to 2,816, up
260 percent from five years earlier.
View of the East Bank campus from the Northrop
Memorial Auditorium |
