The current controversy about the role of Critical Race Theory and identity politics in American schools includes passionate debate about whether indoctrination is being introduced into American schools. The issue of education versus indoctrination is not a novel one. Some perspective and insight can be gained by looking at how the indoctrination in schools has arisen in other countries at other times.
Historical and comparative analysis is not always simple and straightforward. Some of the variables include: different countries, different cultures, different traditions, different political systems, different time periods, and different educational philosophies. Despite these differences, it can be useful to compare and contrast policies and practices in American schools today with the policies and practices of the schools of other countries, and to consider whether there are similarities, differences, analogies, or parallels that can give us some insight and perspective about current policies and practices in American schools.
Despite the differences between the policies and practices in American schools today and the policies and practices in schools in countries that have implemented indoctrination in their educational systems, there are some disturbing and unsettling parallels and similarities. Some American schools have lost their way, neglecting education and embracing indoctrination in Critical Race Theory and identity politics.
The problem is not that some American schools are intentionally copying or emulating the examples of other countries that have embraced and implemented indoctrination in their schools. Regardless of its particular origins and its particular tenets, ideological indoctrination is antithetical to a meaningful education. Homegrown ideological indoctrination can be as bad for education as ideological indoctrination originating elsewhere. The problem is that some American schools fail to understand that they are embracing and implementing policies and practices that are eerily similar in form and function to ideological indoctrination that has occurred in other countries.
I am not asking the reader to just accept my conclusion at face value. I am asking the reader to withhold judgment for a while, engage in some historical and comparative analysis, and consider whether his or her opinion about the current controversy over the presence or absence of indoctrination in American schools is warranted, or needs some modification or qualification.
What follows are references to publications that are worth looking at. The listing is not intended to be comprehensive or definitive. Rather, it is intended to be a starting point to encourage people to consider a historical, comparative perspective to better understand the current debate on whether indoctrination is being introduced into American schools.
Some of the books listed are still in print, some are out-of-print. Out-of-print books can be obtained from used booksellers or libraries. If your local library does not have a particular book that interests you, ask the library to obtain a copy for you through interlibrary loan (ILL).
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON AMERICAN EDUCATION
Dana Goldstein, The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession (Doubleday, 2014)
This book provides some background on teaching controversies in public schools in America, from the 1800’s to the present.
Lawrence A. Cremin, The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education, 1876-1957 (Vintage Books, 1961)
This book provides an interesting and informative look at how progressives have advocated and implemented various policies and practices in American schools, with thoughtful observations on their successes and failures. It also discusses the various controversies that arose in connection with progressive educational policies and practices.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON IDEOLOGICAL INDOCTRINATION IN EDUCATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES
Gilmer W. Blackburn, Education in the Third Reich: Race and History in Nazi Textbooks (State University of New York Press, 1985)
This book discusses the use of Nazi ideology about race and history in German schools after Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, and how they sought to use ideological education to mold Germans into model National Socialists.
Michael H. Kater, Hitler Youth (Harvard University Press, 2004)
This book looks at the creation of the Hitler Youth; the struggle for ultimate authority over children that took place among the churches, the schools, parents, and the Hitler Youth; and the various ways that the Hitler Youth organization was used to support the regime in Nazi Germany.
Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Harvard University Press, 2003)
Chapter 6 of this book deals with the efforts of the Nazi regime to indoctrinate German youth.
Guenter Lewy, Harmful and Undesirable: Book Censorship in Nazi Germany (Oxford University Press, 2016)
This book discusses various aspects of censorship practiced in Nazi Germany. It notes how such censorship extended to public libraries, school libraries, and university libraries, and discusses the use of laws to censor and suppress views disfavored by the Nazi regime.
Bryce Sait, The Indoctrination of the Wehrmacht: Nazi Ideology and the War Crimes of the German Military (Berghahn Books, 2019)
This book focuses on how ideological indoctrination was implemented to try to mold the German military to accept and comply with National Socialist doctrine and policy. It includes discussion of how Nazi indoctrination in the schools and compulsory labor service for German youth were used to complement the indoctrination efforts in the German military at pages 96-113.
Nathan Stoltzfus, Hitler’s Compromises: Coercion and Consensus in Nazi Germany (Yale University Press, 2016)
Chapter III deals with the efforts by Nazi Germany to dominate and control Protestant and Catholic religious schools, with an emphasis on how German Catholics resisted the efforts of the Nazi regime.
Erika Mann, Schools For Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (Dover Publications, 2014)
This book, originally published in1938, was republished in 2014. The author, the daughter of German author Thomas Mann, discusses and criticizes the changes in German schools instituted by the Nazi Party after Adolph Hitler’s rise to power. The author’s approach is more anecdotal than systematic.
Lawrence D. Walker, Hitler Youth and Catholic Youth 1933-1936: a Study in Totalitarian Conquest (Catholic University of America Press, 1970)
This book provides an in-depth look at how the Nazi regime in Germany relentlessly increased its control over German youth groups and eventually abolished any youth group not subject to Nazi control. The author focuses primarily on the battles between the Nazi regime and the Catholic youth groups in German.
John Dunstan, Soviet Schooling in the Second World War (St. Martin’s Press, 1997)
This book describes Soviet education prior to World War II, and how World War II impacted on Soviet education as the Soviet Union dealt with the Nazi invasion that began in June 1941. Includes discussion of ideological content in Soviet education at pages 8-18, 131-144; and the purging of teachers deemed politically unreliable at pages 23, 27, 39-40.
Ralph Talcott Fisher, Jr., Pattern for Soviet Youth: A Study of the Congresses of the Komsomol, 1918-1954 (Columbia University Press, 1955, 1959)
This book studies the development of the Komsomol during the period 1918-54, with particular emphasis on how the Soviet regime used the Komsomol to impose on Soviet youth patterns of attitudes and behavior deemed useful to the Soviet regime. Includes various references to the Soviet Young Pioneers, established in 1922 to indoctrinate children from ages 10-14 years of age.
Karl D, Quallis, Stalin’s Ninos: Educating Spanish Civil War Refugee Children in the Soviet Union, 1937-1951 (University of Toronto Press, 2020)
This book covers the Soviet Union’s efforts to accept over 2,800 refugee children from the Spanish Civil War and educate them in Soviet values, and prepare them to return as adults to build Spain with socialism and communism.
Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 (Random House, Anchor Books, 2012)
This book covers how the Soviet Union took over the governments and institutions of various countries in Eastern Europe after World War II. Chapter 7 discusses how the Soviets crushed independent youth organizations (both religious and secular) and sought to shape and mold young people into being Communists.
John Connelly, Captive University: The Sovietization of East German, Czech, and Polish Higher Education, 1945-1956 (University of North Carolina Press, 2000)
This book covers the efforts of the Soviet Union to impose Stalinist policies and practices on the higher education systems of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland after World War II.
Frank Dikotter, The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945-1957 (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013)
This book covers the Chinese Communist rise to power after World War II and the early years of the Chinese Communist government. Chapter 9 discusses how the Chinese Communist Party sought to re-educate all levels of Chinese society to become Communists.
Frank Dikotter, The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962-1976 (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017)
This book examines the Chinese Cultural Revolution and its effects on the Chinese people and Chinese society. It discusses the effects of the Cultural Revolution on Chinese schools and student at pages 34-35, 37-38, 60-61, 75-76, 192-194, 286-288, and 297.
Xing Lu, Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Impact on Chinese Thought, Culture, and Communication (University of South Carolina Press, 2004)
This book examines the impact of the Chinese Cultural Revolution on Chinese culture. It discusses the politicization of education by the Chinese Communist government at pages 23-24, 26, 55-56, and 57-59.
