So much has been written about the conservative, uptight, "silent generation" of the 1950s that even some of those who lived through it have begun to believe it. Ask students to do a little exploring of the label on their own. Good sources are popular magazines, popular books, and (carefully evaluated) reminiscences. See also Douglas Miller and Marian Novak, The Fifties: The Way We Really Were (1977), and William L. O'Neill, American High: The Years of Confidence, 1945-1960 (1988). If possible, it will be desirable to have screenings of some films about the period. It is important that a discussion be held about what the 1950s generation was really like. Can any generalizations be made about the goals of young men and women? The ways in which they occupied their time? How did they perceive themselves? What can be said about family relationships? It is likely that no consensus will be reached, since eschewing labels and slogans will require appropriate respect for complexity. Can the class speculate on what label future generations might try to pin on today's students?

Often a survey course will have students whose primary interest lies with subjects other than history. From time to time, instructors may wish to respond to those interests. The growing importance of the computer in the 1950s deserves a closer look. Invite computer buffs among your students to study the computer's origins, assess its impact, and make a brief report to the class on what they have found. Other students may enjoy sports. The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers were among the many teams that went west. Why? And what were the circumstances under which such changes were made? Ask interested students to investigate and report. Still a third group of students may be particularly concerned with the American family. Again, ask these students to investigate and report. A brief history of the computer industry is to be found in the introductory chapter of James W. Cortada, Historical Dictionary of Data Processing: Organizations (1987), along with a bibliographic note containing a number of valuable suggestions for fuller historical treatment. Two other volumes in the Cortada series will also be useful, subtitled Technology and Biographies. See also Kenneth Flamm, Creating the Computer: Government, Industry and High Technology (1988). For baseball see Donald Honig, Baseball in the Fifties: A Decade of Transition (1987); Neil Sullivan, The Dodgers Move West (1987); and David Q. Voigt, American Baseball: From the Commissioners to Continental Expansion (1983). For the family see Carl N. Degler, At Odds: Women and the Family in America, from the Revolution to the Present (1980); Elaine T. May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (1988); Wilkes Brown, Images of Family Life in Magazine Advertising, 1920-1978 (1981); Steven Mintz and Susan Kellogg, Domestic Revolutions: A Social History of American Family Life (1987); and Stephanie Coontz, The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap (1992).

The excellent "Place in Time" feature for Chapter 29 concerning Levittown, New York, mentions that Levitt would not sell to African-Americans. Isn't that unfair? Shouldn't anybody be able to buy anything put up for public sale if he or she has the money? Why did Levitt believe that he had the right to refuse African-Americans? And how did African-Americans win the right to fair treatment in housing? See Clement E. Vose, Caucasians Only: The Supreme Court, the NAACP, and the Restrictive Covenant Cases (1959).

Although a reform movement in education was under way before Sputnik, the nation really got a jolt when the Soviets moved ahead in space. Public policy provided a great deal of assistance and stimulation to educational efforts to keep up in the Cold War. Is that wise public policy? In a democratic society, is it not desirable to provide improved education for those in the worst schools rather than for those with the money and position to take care of themselves? Should not financial support be given evenhandedly to students of philosophy as well as to students of physics? Ask several students to consider these issues and debate them before the class. Conclude with general discussion. See Arthur Bestor, Educational Wastelands: The Retreat from Learning in Our Public Schools (second edition; 1985); Diane Ravitch, The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945-1980 (1983); and Joel Spring, The Sorting Machine Revisited: National Educational Policy Since 1945 (revised edition; 1989).