Education: Able-Minded Seamen

For his salty criticism of U.S. schools, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover is often dismissed by professional educators as an out-of-his-depth amateur. In fact, Rickover is a seasoned schoolmaster running one of the most efficient school systems in the U.S.: the Navy's little-known Nuclear Power Schools at New London, Conn., and Mare Island, Calif.

Rickover launched them in 1956 and 1958 because he considered the products of U.S. schools illiterate in science and unfit for nuclear sailing. In his own 24-week schools, which already have 2,000 alumni, Rickover hurls college courses at enlisted men and...