This article outlines the history of American education mainly during the years following the Pearl Harbor attack, the incident that raised the national morale in the war effort. Immediately after the attack, John W. Studebaker, U. S. Commissioner of Education, organized the U. S. Office of Education Wartime Commission to adjust educational agencies to wartime needs and also launched the magazine Education for Victory whose purpose was chiefly to inform schools of the proposed policies and programs of the governmental agencies and to call for cooperation with the U. S. Army. At the same time, then President Franklin Roosevelt gave the State of the Union Address, in which he emphasized the urgent need of "speedy" and "efficient" wartime production in all military industries. Moreover, military personnel exerted pressure upon educators so that high school students could acquire basic knowledge in mathematics, chemistry, engineering, and other sciences, which were needed for the prosecution of modern warfare. English teachers were no exception. They were required by the Army to inculcate their students with four skills for English communication (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) for the reason that, without these skills, boys and girls could not fulfill their duties in the Army or in military industries. Attention should be paid, however, to the fact that English teachers in wartime America tactfully added one more skill to the required four. To put it briefly, they schemed to encourage their students to acquire the skill of "thinking," even though military officials underestimated their attempts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]