Some members of the education world argued that the Soviet Union's success in space technology represented the failure of American education, and the focus of American society shifted to promoting new educational methods, creating new instructional courses, researching creative thinking, and developing individual talent.
有些教育界人士認為，蘇聯在太空科技上的成功，代表美國教育的失敗，社會的焦點轉向提倡新的教學方法、修訂新課程、從事創造思考研究、才能教育的發展等。