Editing Hyman G. Rickover (section)

==Focus on education==
[[File:JFK_and_Rickover.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|President [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]] and Rickover, White House, 11 February 1963<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHP/1963/Month+02/Day+11/JFKWHP-1963-02-11-B|title=Meeting with Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover|website=www.jfklibrary.org}}</ref> "...in addition to the multilateral POLARIS force, we discussed education and how he and I were brought up as boys"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/sites/default/files/archives/JFKOH/Rickover%2C%20Hyman%20G/JFKOH-HGR-01/JFKOH-HGR-01-TR.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.jfklibrary.org/sites/default/files/archives/JFKOH/Rickover%2C%20Hyman%20G/JFKOH-HGR-01/JFKOH-HGR-01-TR.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Hyman G. Rickover Oral History Interview |website=John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program|date=1964-08-17 |first=Arthur |last=Schlesinger Jr.}}</ref>]]
When he was a child still living in Russian-occupied Poland, Rickover was not allowed to attend public schools because of his Jewish faith. Starting at the age of four, he attended a religious school where the teaching was solely from the ''[[Tanakh]]'', i.e., ''[[Old Testament]]'', in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]].<ref>{{Cite book | isbn = 0-595-25270-2 | page = 20 | last = Rockwell | first = Theodore | title = The Rickover Effect | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U4kjnYL7-igC&q=Rickover,+Sabath&pg=PA21 | year = 2002 | publisher = IUniverse | location = Lincoln, NE }}</ref> Following his formal education in the United States,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prairiefirenewspaper.com/2008/12/my-father-remembered|title=My father remembered|publisher=Prairiefirenewspaper.com|access-date=2014-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218065332/http://prairiefirenewspaper.com/2008/12/my-father-remembered|archive-date=2015-02-18|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rickover developed a decades-long and outspoken interest in the educational standards of the US as being a national security issue, particularly as compared during the [[Cold War]] era to [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite speech |last=Rickover |first=Hyman George |title=Energy resources and our future |url=http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23151 |event=Annual Scientific Assembly of the Minnesota State Medical Association |location=St. Paul, MN |date=14 May 1957 |access-date=21 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503173011/http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23151 |archive-date=3 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

An example of his passion for education from his 1959 ''Report on Russia''<ref>H. G. Rickover, "Report on Russia", US GPO 1959 https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=uE0vAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-uE0vAAAAMAAJ&rdot=1</ref> in the context of comparative educational systems:

<blockquote>There is no room here (in nuclear powerplant development) for lofty theories which do not work out in practice. We would not get anywhere if we had the loose, hazy thinking you encounter when you bring out the obvious failures of the American educational system. ... there are times when it is irresponsible to avoid criticizing something which one knows to be wrong and dangerous for the Nation as a whole. I feel that every one who has a position of responsibility in this country and who can see and understand what is happening not only has the right, he has the obligation and the duty to speak. ... This is why I feel so strongly about education—about our failure to give our children as good an education as they deserve and need. ... It is my considered opinion that there is no problem that faces the Congress or the country that is as important.</blockquote>

Rickover believed that US standards of education were unacceptably low. His first book centered on education was a collection of essays calling for improved standards of education, particularly in math and science, entitled ''Education and Freedom'' (1959). In it, he stated that "education is the most important problem facing the United States today" and "only the massive upgrading of the scholastic standards of our schools will guarantee the future prosperity and freedom of the Republic." A second book, ''Swiss Schools and Ours'' (1962) was a scathing comparison of the educational systems of Switzerland and America. He argued that the higher standards of Swiss schools, including a longer school day and year, combined with an approach stressing student choice and academic specialization produced superior results.<ref>{{cite thesis|url=http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3077&context=luc_diss |title=Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN: A Decade of Educational Criticism, 1955–64 |date=1982 |first=William J. |last=Haran |website=Loyola University Chicago}}</ref>

Recognizing that "nurturing careers of excellence and leadership in science and technology in young scholars is an essential investment in the United States national and global future," Rickover founded the [[Center for Excellence in Education]] following his retirement in 1983.<ref>{{cite web | title = The History of CEE: Center for Excellence in Education | access-date = 2009-03-21 | url = http://www.cee.org/about/history | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090318222622/http://www.cee.org/about/history | archive-date = 2009-03-18 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Additionally, Rickover founded the [[Research Science Institute]] (formerly the Rickover Science Institute) in 1984, a summer science program hosted by the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] for high school seniors from around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cee.org/events/rsi-2017-rickover-award|title=RSI 2017 Rickover Award &#124; Center for Excellence in Education|website=www.cee.org|access-date=2019-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207195729/https://www.cee.org/events/rsi-2017-rickover-award|archive-date=2019-12-07|url-status=dead}}</ref>