Recently, a government has begun to transform and misconstrue history. Textbooks have been re-written to cater to political squabbles instead of facts, and school children are being exposed to the bias of politics instead of the accuracy of history. People have noticed, yet nothing can be done to stop these ludicrous alterations.
And which government is this?
If you said Russia, you would be correct. However, if you said Texas, you also would have answered accurately.
Recently introduced school textbook changes in Russia, focused on the history of the nation from 1900-1945, have begun to shift the ideology and teachings on the former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The book justifies Stalin's terror and destruction as ""an instrument of development.""
The textbook insists that there were never organized famines in the Soviet countryside, and that Stalin repeatedly acted with the best interest of the Russian people in mind.
This history lesson informs students that ""it is important to show that Stalin acted in a completely rational way, as the protector of the system and as a consistent supporter of the transformation of the country into an industrial society ... as the leader of a country which was threatened with a big war in the most immediate future.""
For a refresher in history: As a leader in the Politburo in the 1930s, Stalin ordered purges that produced consequences ranging from the expulsion of party members to labor-camp sentencing and even death sentences. Under Stalin, a secret police known as the NKVD troikas held dangerous and deadly powers. The troikas are believed to be responsible for as many as 700,000 deaths among ethnic Poles, Germans, Koreans, and even Americans living in Russia.
Additionally, Stalin is reported to have personally signed death sentences for over 40,000 Russian citizens. The most conservative figures estimate that at least three million Russians were murdered under Stalin's regime. If death tolls resulting from famines exasperated by Stalin's political and social policies are included, that figure is estimated to possibly exceed over 10 million dead under his reign.
Now, Stalin, a man who was himself well-known to have edited textbooks during the communist regime, is being presented as an iconic hero to school children in the ostensibly democratic nation of Russia. Many people in that country, including teachers themselves, have displayed outrage over these alterations. However, it appears that nothing can be done to overrule the authority of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his intentions to re-glorify Stalin.
The outrage produced by these blatant political lies in Russia, however, has been recently duplicated over similar concerns in the United States—specifically, Texas.
On March 12, ultraconservative leaders within the Texas State Board of Education succeeded in implementing various politically biased changes in state-mandated textbooks. Among the alterations in curriculum is the requirement to cover the Judeo-Christian influences on our country's founders, as well as the exclusions of numerous names of and references to influential Hispanic figures and also to get students to question the idea of the separation of church and state.
The new curriculum also forces a change in reference to the governmental structure of the United States from a ""democratic republic"" to a ""constitutional republic."" The alterations reach into other studies as well, such as economics, second amendment rights and the use of the religious-based historic period designations B.C. and A.D., instead of B.C.E. and C.E.
The changes passed by a 10-5 partisan vote.
Politicians on both sides of the political spectrum admit to flaws in the standards in which school curriculum can be changed in Texas, and three Democrats even left the hearings following unresolved frustration.
Unfortunately for Russia, a nation struggling in recent years to maintain its standing as a democratic nation, their recent curriculum and textbook alterations likely come as little surprise to many. However, the idea that political bias has begun to enter the curriculum of millions of school children in the United States should produce outrage among the American public.
These students in Texas are attending public schools, funded by what should be unbiased government bodies. The education that school children receive across the United States should not change based on the political and ideological biases of their local governments.
One nation has begun to glorify a horrific mass murder within their education system, while an American state has voted to favor ideology over facts and unbiased curriculum.
While the difference in severity between these two cases might be debatable, both Russia and Texas should be eyed with equal disgrace following their recent decisions to abandon a fair education in favor of shameful politics.
Mark Bennett is a freshman intending to major in journalism. We welcome all feedback. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
