17. Rickover personally directed all aspects of the Navy’s nuclear program
Rickover did not believe in delegating responsibility. In his mind, he was personally responsible, the ultimate authority, for all aspects of the nuclear Navy. His schedule reflected that belief. On any given day he could be inspecting a reactor under construction, or an operating prototype, or reviewing a budget, or visiting a contractor’s facilities, or testifying before Congress, or meeting with the President. He inspected ships and submarines, quizzed the crew from the Captain to the lowliest enlisted man in the engineering spaces. His conversations with crew and his interviews with applicants to the program led him to believe the American education system was failing in its task. He was particularly critical of Annapolis, which he believed focused too much on military rigidity and tradition, and not enough on teaching students to think for themselves.
As early as 1959 Rickover published a collection of essays which discussed the failures of the American education system, writing, “It is my considered opinion that there is no problem that faces the Congress or the country that is as important”. In 1962 the Admiral, evidently finding too much spare time on his hands, undertook a comparison study of American education to that of Switzerland. America’s system did not fare well in his estimation. He published his findings in a 1962 book, Swiss Schools and Ours: Why Theirs Are Better, in which he argued for higher standards, especially in mathematics and sciences, and a longer school year and day for American schools. To Rickover, lax education standards in the United States presented a national security problem. His arguments, presented over three decades, largely fell on deaf ears.
