The Cold War raged, and the Soviet Union stunned America and the world by beating us into space with Sputnik. Calls rang out for a nationwide mobilization to catch up. The Thacher School, in cooperation with Caltech, Pomona, and UCLA, developed the Summer Science Program. The best way to turn bright teenagers into young scientists is to have them team up with their peers to solve a difficult, interesting scientific problem. Forty years later, much has changed.
Global competition is more economic than military.
Government funding for science education waxes and wanes like the moon. Still, no one says America is doing a good enough job of teaching science and math. The Thacher School is staying at the forefront. Now it's up to the alumni to continue SSP into the new century. Educational fads come and go, and the Internet may replace high schools, but the experience of SSP will be as valuable to a teenager in 2010 as it was to us.