GOP Lawmakers Seek to Add ‘Dangers of Communism’ Program to High School Curriculum

Republican lawmakers have reintroduced a bit of laws that might create a civic training program that straight addresses the historical past of communism.

Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) unveiled the invoice on March 12, saying that the proposed measures had been designed to tell highschool college students concerning the “risks of communism” and related ideology.

Roughly 35 p.c of U.S. millennials (ages 23 to 38) and 31 p.c of Technology Z (ages 16 to 23) expressed help for “gradual elimination of the capitalist system in favor of a extra socialist system.”

Among the many 5 age teams surveyed, Technology Z and millennials confirmed the best ranges of favorability towards communism, with 28 p.c and 22 p.c, respectively.

“At a time when almost one-third of Gen Z maintain a ‘favorable opinion’ of communism, it’s clear our training system has fallen quick educating younger folks concerning the risks of communism and its lengthy darkish historical past of oppression, persecution, and violence,” Schmitt mentioned in an announcement.

The invoice states that the brand new academic program would function a comparative dialogue about “sure political ideologies, together with communism and totalitarianism,” and the way these ideologies “battle with the rules of freedom and democracy which might be important to the founding of the US.”

It additionally seeks to introduce oral historical past sources known as “Portraits in Patriotism.” These will showcase private tales of survivors from communist regimes, permitting college students to match between these experiences and their very own lives in the US.

Salazar, whose household fled Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba, has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill in help of the laws since 2021, when she first launched it. The sooner model failed to maneuver to a ground vote at the moment.