James Berlin's "A Short History of Writing Instruction" 1960-1975

In James Berlin's "A Short History of Writing Instruction" he seg ways into the section covering 1960-1975 by describing the launch of the Russian Sputnik in 1957. Berlin comments suggested, in response to the launch, that U.S. leaders felt their established technological superiority, that was displayed in World War II, was fading. Their response was to cultivate socially and economically charged students to help maintain technological superiority and national defense. In public schools course emphasis on math and science was becoming more apparent. Furthermore, the government gave selective service deferment to students that were enrolled in college or graduate school to concentrate the nation's "talent pool." Conservatives challenged the new agenda in education stating that too much focus was being given to the student rather than the subject matter.
The 1960's started a trend in America's youth that is still apparent in today's youth and that is the concept of the individual. More focus is being sought on the individual person rather than the group. This was never more prevalent than what was being taught in English and composition. Instead of dwelling on composition form from intellectual established writers, there was more focus on Bruner's "process" of writing and how an individual came to learning a concept through their own work. This idea of "hands on" experience spread to other subjects and disciplines. "The student was to engage in the act of doing physics or math or literary criticism, and was not simply to rely on the reports of experts. Bruner believed that students learned the structure of a discipline through engaging in research as a practitioner of the discipline." (Berlin 208)
As a student I whole heartily agree with Bruner's philosophy. My best work in any subject is not by studying text of an expert and spitting it back in test form, but by actively engaging in the subject matter and learning from my experience.