A dramatic event promoted curriculum revision during the latter 1950s - Russia's victorious space lunch of Sputnik. American science curriculum and American values (pride and opposition to communism) were directly challenged. A new science curriculum was inquiry- (or discovery-) oriented: it encouraged students to question existing knowledge, formulate new theories, search for and collect information relative to the theories before repeating the next cycle. Rather naturally, empirical verification and the accumulation of knowledge increased in importance and have become mainstream to the American way of life: truth comes by discovery, and discovery never ends. In this way, Sputnik and the subsequent curriculum changes may have contributed to change in "values in education" that were to came in the 1960's and 1970's.

Another factor was the Vietnam conflict, which illustrate the cognitive emphasis in American thought. Many American leaders approached the war with technical, managerial constructs, failing to take adequately into account such things as philosophy, politics, and other human factors. The value conflict between America's proponents of the war and large number of the public contributed to the value changed which took place in the 1960s and 1970s. One prevalent value in question which follows is, "Who can we trust?". The answer seems to have been, Ourselves, an answer consonant with a pluralistic society.

In 1970s, teachers shared with the rest of the nation much moral confusion over such issues as the limits of protest, the new sexual mores, and the meaning of patriotism. Imperceptibly but clearly, many teachers surrendered their moral authority and retreated to the role of technician. They restricted their efforts to the conveying of information and skills, and the concept of teachers as special people responsible for the character and moral development of young began to erode.

However, some teachers tried to find new ways to play a role in the moral development of their students. The academic community helped them along by providing three new approaches: values clarification, cognitive-developmental moral education, and ethical reasoning for children.