Communism In The American Education System Essay Example For Students

Communism In The American Education System Essay -Heather McIntyreSenior Seminar17 January 2001Communism in the American Education SystemAt the height of the Cold War, a new cartoon emerged. Little blue people called Smurfs sang and skipped into the hearts of the American populace. The good, clean antics of the Smurfs were the model of American values, or were they? One should look closely at the Smurfs, their values, their cultures. Surprise! The Smurfs were not capitalistic at all. They were Communists! Communist practices and doctrine have not only infiltrated American television, but they have also become integral parts of America itself. Communism has even become a part of the American education system. How has communism been adopted into the American educational system? Some examples of this infiltration into the classroom include one of the Ten Planks of Communism, atheism, controlled learning, propaganda, school to work programs, and busing. Communism as it is known today was first proposed by Karl Marx in 1848 when he published The Manifesto of the Communist Party (Leone 13). Marx envisioned a Utopian society where everyone was equal. Such a society would combine growth with fairness by allowing the bureaucrats to make most of the decisions concerning the economy (Samuelson). As in The Smurfs, there would be no money, and everyone would contribute what they could and receive what they needed (Schmidt). There would be one manor source of income, and the entire collective would contribute to that source. At the time of Marx, communism stiff fell under the category of socialism. During the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century, there was a split in the Socialist Party, and communism began to be recognized as a movement of its own. The original Communists were small extremist groups of revolutionaries within the European socialist movement. It was not until the Russian Revolution in 1917 that socialism and communism finally parted ways (Leone 14). By 1985, over one-third of the population of the world claimed to be Marxist, including countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America (Fienberg 2). Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seized power when he led the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution and ruled the Soviet Union until his death in 1924 (Remnick). One of Lenins chief advisors was a man by the name of Trotsky. After Lenins death, a power struggle ensued between Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. When Stalin won, he immediately started executing and exiling those who opposed him. T rotsky was forced to flee the Soviet Union and was later assassinated (Leone 46). Somehow, between Marxs writings and Stalins regime, communism had chanted from a system of beliefs for those without power to a system of beliefs brutally imposed on the working class by the government (Fienberg 6). While writing his thoughts on the perfect society in 1948, Karl Marx published his famous Ten Planks of Communism. Marx stated that any country that had all ten planks in practice was a communistic state. The tenth and final plank calls for Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of childrens factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc. (Courageous Lion). Stated more clearly, the tenth plank advocates free government education and a combination of schools with the marketplace. In the United States, citizens are taxed to send children to free public schools, and schools often have some program that connects the classroom to the workplace. The NEA, Outcome Based Education, and The Department of Education itself all fall under Marxs tenth plank of the Communist Manifesto (Courageous Lion). According to Marx, the perfect Communistic society is atheistic. In the USSR, religion was banished from all curricula and banned from all public roles (Fienberg). American schools are put in an interesting position. Due to the First Amendment, all children have the right to practice their varied religious customs. However, the clause that separates church from state ensures that the government does not favor one religion over another. Thus, any government-funded school cannot teach religious doctrines or institute school prayers, etc. In a letter addressed to all school principals, the United States Secretary of Education said, ?School officials may not endorse or favor religious activity or doctrine, coerce participation in religious activity, or seek to impose their religious beliefs on impressionable children (qtd. in Secretary of Education). The Secretarys statement means that while students are allowed to express their religious beliefs, teachers are not. In the same letter, th e Secretary stated, ?The right to engage in personal voluntary prayer or religious discussion free from discrimination does not include the right to have a captive audience listen, or compel other students to participate (qtd. in Secretary of Education). It was with the former guidelines in mind that Congress banned all faculty or student-led prayers at football games, graduation ceremonies, etc. Thus, although freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Constitution, the practice of expressing religion in a government funded education system is prohibited. Another facet of Soviet education is controlled learning. In the USSR, the State decided what and where each child would study. Courses in Marxism-Leninism were mandatory, and students in universities were required to pass an exam in Marxist ideology. Science and other fact-based fields mostly escaped politicization, but economics and social sciences were reshaped to conform with Marxist principles. Therefore, ideology governed how history and philosophy were to be taught. Curricula, textbooks, and instruction were related to teaching Communist values (Tift). Trying to share a broader view of history than what was officially acknowledged by the Soviet government was an ordeal. Some teachers managed to form a bond of trust with their students by smuggling forbidden information into classrooms. Others who tried this approach were reported and ended up losing their jobs or worse. Teachers had to choose between either scrapping the government approved syllabus and living at risk or follo wing orders by lying to their students (McMullen). A Visit to the Norton Museum EssayEight states received funding in the first year. New York received the largest grant of eight million dollars for the first year and more than sixty million dollars over five years. New Yorks system included skill standards, skill assessments, skill certificates, and performance-based assessments. Parents, teachers, employers, etc. were required to be involved in determining proper preparation for the workplace. Efforts supported by allocated funds were required to provide equal opportunities for all students. Today, School to Work initiatives in the United States are seen as commonplace (Glass). Another idea instituted by the Soviet Union was busing. While the Soviet Union was still young, Lenin announced that he was upset that the government was doing almost nothing for the rural districts outside official budgets or channels. At this time, relationships between town and county were showing positive effects throughout the country. Lenin wanted to methodically, systematically, and consciously improve the relationship between town and country by getting the government involved. Lenins idea was to attach urban groups to village groups in order to give everyone the same cultural experiences so that everyone would have equal opportunities in life (Basgen). Busing took a slightly different approach in the United States. An outgrowth of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954, busing was introduced in the early 1970s as a way of achieving racial balance in the schools (Craver and Ozman). In Bradley v. School Board of the City of Richmond, a 1972 Virginia Supreme Court decision, the court of appeals overturned a court-ordered consolidation of Richmond schools because the segregated schools were not a result of legal actions. Rather, the segregated conditions were caused by residential patterns. This pattern held true in many states. In cities including Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis, courts ordered schools to bus black students from the cities to white suburban schools in order to desegregate the school systems. Compulsory busing ended in Los Angeles after state courts ruled that a 1981 referendum banning busing unless the segregation was intentional was Constitutional. In 1986, the Supreme Court declined t o review a busing issue case from Norfolk, Virginia. The court was thought to have been signaling that a city can end court-ordered busing once the schools have been integrated. In 1991, the Supreme Court ruled that court-ordered busing in Oklahoma City could end short of integration if everything practicable had been done to eliminate discrimination and segregation. Busing backfired in the sense that compulsory busing to achieve integration accelerated the flight of white families to the suburbs, thus resegregating urban schools; however, it is interesting to note that the academic performance of minority children improves when they are in classes where middle-class white pupils are the majority (Craver and Ozman). Communism is a part of every country. Marxs ideas of the perfect society were not far off. The problem is that the human race is corrupt. The Soviet Union and other Communist countries corrupted a brilliant idea with their greed. It is in no way wrong to share some good ideas with other people. However, it is wrong to not admit to these similarities. The American school system still has a long way to go before it will realize its full potential. Maybe a touch of Communism is just what this ailing country needs. After all, the Smurfs managed rather well. BibliographyWorks CitedBasgen, Brian. On Education. Pravada 33 (4 Jan 1923): 462-66. reprinted Lenin Internet Archive n.pag. Online. Internet. 26 Oct. 2000. Available WWW: http:// www.marxists.org. Courageous Lion. The Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto Translated. Geocities Home Page Online. Internet. 27 Oct. 2000. Available WWW:http//:www. geocities.com/7006/com-man.html. Craver, Sam and Howard Ozman. n.tit. The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia Version 1.5. CD-ROM. 1992 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 2 Jan. 2001. Fienberg, Barbara S. Marx and Marxism. New York: Franklin Watts, 1985. Glass, Gene V., ed. n.tit. Education Policy Analysis Archives 31 Mar. 1999 n.pag. Online. Internet. 1 Dec. 2000. Available WWW:http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/ v711html. Leone, Bruno, ed. Communism- Opposing Viewpoints. 2nd ed. St. Paul, Minnesota: Greenhaven Press, Inc, 1986. McMullen, Matthew S. Higher Education Finance Reform in the Czech Republic: Transitions in Thought and Practice. Education Policy Analysis Archives 11 Jan 2000: n.pag. Online. Internet. 6 Dec. 2000. Available WWW: http://epaa/asu.edu/epaa/v8n6.html. Molnar, Alex. The Commercial Transformation Americas Schools. Department of Education Homepage n.pag. Online. Internet. 5 Dec. 2000. Available WWW:http//www.uwm.edu/Dept/CACE/documents/cace-00-01.htm. Noah, Harold J. Soviet Educations Unsolved Problems. Education Policy Analysis Archives 11 Jan. 2000: n.pag. Online. Internet. 7 Dec. 2000. Available WWW:http://www.hku.hk/cerc/4a.html. Remnick, David. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Time 13 Apr. 1998: 82-3+. Samuelson, Robert J. Economics Made Easy. Newsweek 27 November 1989: 64. Schmidt, Marc. Socio-Political Themes in The Smurfs. Geocities Home Page 1988: n.pag. Online. Internet. 27 Oct. 2000. Available WWW:http://www.geocities. com/Hollywood/cinema/3117/sociosmurf2.htm. The Scopes Trial. The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia Version 1.5. CD- ROM. 1992 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 3 Jan 2001. Secretary of Education . Letter. To All Principals in Public Schools. 27 Jan. 1998. Tift, Susan. Expelling the Ghosts of Marx and Lenin. Time 23 Apr. 1990: 70, 75. Political Issues