Opinion of History teachers explaining why communism is "bad"

[OneJ]

One person's signature encouraged me to make this thread although I've pondered for a while about it since my current U.S. History teacher is not supportive of communism. Now that I have nothing else to add on to what I already stated, I suppose it's now time to discuss.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Massive FF as Communism is 100% evil.


Communism = 2nd most evil ideology in the past 200 years

Socialism = Evil

Democratic Socialism = Terrible policies

[HillGoose]

communism is evil, a teacher talking about communism is bad is no worse than a teacher talking about how Nazism is bad

[Young Conservative]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_Communist_regimes

There is nothing immoral about teachers teaching facts.

[Dr. MB]

I'm honored!

Opposition to communism is a justifiable position (and one that I share), obviously. That said, negative distortion of socialist ideas is, unfortunately, one of the few things the American public school system excels at, and most instructors end up explaining communism in the way shown in my signature.

[fluffypanther19]

I'm honored!

Opposition to communism is a justifiable position (and one that I share), obviously. That said, negative distortion of socialist ideas is, unfortunately, one of the few things the American public school system excels at, and most instructors end up explaining communism in the way shown in my signature.

yeah that pretty much sums up the American educational system's view of communism and it glaringly shows how bad the system is at teaching anything with an ounce of nuance.

[darklordoftech]

I'd prefer that they teach the facts and let the students decide what's "good" and what's "bad".

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

I'd prefer that they teach the facts and let the students decide what's "good" and what's "bad".

This.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

ummmm ackshually, communism was GOOD 🌹

follow me on twitter @DSASoyBoy

[TPIG]

communism is evil, a teacher talking about communism is bad is no worse than a teacher talking about how Nazism is bad

Exactly. In my experience, teachers don't even go out of their way to explicitly call communism bad. They simply lay out the tenets of the ideology and then lay out the facts of the horrible atrocities committed in the pursuit of those tenets. Communism condemns itself with its own history.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I'd prefer that they teach the facts and let the students decide what's "good" and what's "bad".

Communism is evil and that is not an opinion , it is a fact.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Freedom Instruction, generally. All history has perspective, and ignoring the problems associated with communism (both theoretical and practical) or excusing the atrocities committed in its name in the name of being "unbiased" defeats the purpose of studying history in the first place. Of course, in doing so, it's important to explain what communism actually is (hint: if you're using the definition in AndrewCA's signature, you're doing it wrong) and discuss why communist governments have ultimately failed to bring about the kind of classless society envisioned by Marx and others, so that the explanation qualifies as historical instruction and not a political rant.

I will add that, from a historian's perspective, it's perhaps most important to understand why people have been drawn to communist solutions throughout history (beyond 'lol free stuff'), and on that note the American education system does an exceptionally poor job handling the material.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Good morning class. This is Karl Marx. He is eeeeeevil.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Communism is bad because everyone who practiced it was evil, and its very idea goes against human nature.

[Zioneer]

I went to a very ideologically-motivated charter school, and so I had to suffer through non-history teachers constantly grumbling about communism all the time. So I find it obnoxious.

Though the actual history teacher was called a communist once and ran with it, literally making Stalin jokes about herself and teaching a class about dictatorship in general, with a focus on communist dictatorships. She was way better than the obnoxious ideological wastes of space in the school.

[Kingpoleon]

My history teacher is amazingly good about this. He asks questions to make us doubt our own beliefs, but never directly attacks them. He doesn’t say “Communism is bad.” or “Fascism is bad.” Instead it’s “Is fascism bad? Why? Why not?” or “Is communism bad? Why? Why not?”


That said, I really must question this: if communism, the equal distribution of income to all, is a successful ideology, then I really must question why no communist state today, under that definition, exists? To me, if an ideology has no successful implementations, then there are two conclusions: it is new, untried on a large scale, or is generally impractical(if not downright impossible). The former two are, under no circumstances, plausible claims. Therefore, “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

By the time I was in high school history classes, we were pretty much given a free hand, perspective on history-wise. My teacher was sort of some caricature New Deal Democrat who idolized Truman and both of the Roosevelts and loved Diet Coke. I didn’t agree with him and I was generally regarded by him as one of the class’ better students. Our late Econ teacher, by contrast, hadMilton Friedman posters on the wall of his classroom.

[Murica!]

Few normal individuals would defend any of the Stalinist regimes, but American schools do not teach about the ideology correctly or with nuance. It should demonstrate quite well the problems with the way it is taught if a few of our younger posters(and more... gullible posters as well ) believe that communism is the equality of pay, something that is so hilariously and ironically false that it hurts.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Massive FF as Communism is 100% evil.


Communism = 2nd most evil ideology in the past 200 years

Socialism = Evil

Democratic Socialism = Terrible policies

I'm evil because I don't want to let the poor starve? Good to know.

[Pyro]

It is not the job of a professional instructor to instill their opinions in students.
As with creationism/darwinism, one must teach objectively and allow the students to come to their own conclusion.

[MasterJedi]

Well, considering no communist society has turned out positive in any way, I think it's an easy choice. Communism is impossible with human ambition/greed that almost everyone has.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

There is nothing "evil" about Communist ideology, that's utter nonsense. A truly Communist state is pretty much impossible to create though, and the movement has historically been very easily manipulated and taken over by evil murderers.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Many students aren't even learning that Communism is bad.

[thumb21]

Not only freedom teaching, but essential teaching. Communism has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions and we must do everything to avoid it.

[junior chįmp]

My parents grew up under Communism. They always used to say to me at big American Wal Mart Supercenter...."Son...we used to wait in big line for loaf of bread. In America, you wait in line for robot cashier. Vat a country!"