This Act mandates the creation and dissemination of a high school curriculum comparing communism to American democracy, emphasizing the historical death toll and current oppression under communist regimes.
John Kennedy
Senator
LA
The Crucial Communism Teaching Act aims to prepare high school students for responsible citizenship by ensuring they learn about the historical dangers and global impact of communism. This bill mandates the development and dissemination of a new civic education curriculum that contrasts communism with American principles of freedom and democracy. The resources will also include "Portraits in Patriotism," featuring oral histories from victims of oppressive regimes.
High School Classrooms Mandated to Teach Communism's '100,000,000 Deaths' and Dangers
The aptly named Crucial Communism Teaching Act is straightforward: it aims to revamp high school civic education by mandating specific instruction on the history and dangers of communism. The goal, according to Section 2, is to prepare students to be informed citizens by making sure they understand that communism has caused the deaths of over 100 million people globally, grasp the dangers associated with it and similar political ideas, and know that about 1.5 billion people currently live under communist regimes. This isn't just a suggestion; it’s a specific content requirement for classrooms.
Who’s Writing the Textbook?
This bill doesn't task the Department of Education with creating the new curriculum. Instead, it hands the job to a specific independent organization: the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (established under the FRIENDSHIP Act). Under Section 3, this Foundation is responsible for developing a new high school curriculum that compares political ideas like communism and totalitarianism against the core principles of freedom and democracy the U.S. was founded on. The materials must be accurate, relevant, and usable in standard classes like history, government, or economics.
The 'Portraits in Patriotism' Requirement
Beyond the standard curriculum, the Foundation must also develop oral history resources titled “Portraits in Patriotism.” These resources will feature personal stories from diverse individuals who were victims of these oppressive ideologies. The purpose is to have these victims offer firsthand accounts and compare those systems with the American political system. Think of it as a mandated, specific historical context lesson designed to bring the abstract concepts of political systems down to a human level. The Foundation is also tasked with helping state and local education leaders actually implement both the curriculum and these oral histories in high schools.
What This Means for Schools and Parents
For parents and students, this means a guaranteed, specific focus on anti-communism in high school history or civics classes. If your kid is currently learning about the Cold War or comparative government, this bill means the curriculum will be standardized and must include the specific death toll statistics cited in Section 2. For teachers and school districts, this is a new, prescriptive mandate. They will have to integrate these materials, developed by an outside, advocacy-focused organization, into their existing coursework. While the goal of improving civic literacy is solid, relying on a non-governmental entity to develop core curriculum content, especially one with a specific mission, is a notable shift. It raises questions about how balanced the materials will be when comparing political systems, even as the bill mandates accuracy. The key takeaway for busy people is that a specific, non-negotiable political lesson is being written into the high school syllabus, developed by an organization whose primary mission is memorializing the victims of communism.