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Page tC EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD, Sunday, Apr. 1, 1962 Getting Ready to Teach Anti-Communism Florida's Education Officials Juggle a Red Hot Potato EDITOR'S NOTE: Florida has laws requiring students lo be taught kindness to animals, the harmful effects of alcohol and other nonclassical topics. Nou it has a mandatory course in anti-communism. But if there's disagreement over just what communism is, there's even more over how it should be taught. By G. K. HODENFIELD Br ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLAHASSEE, Fla. "The Communists have taken over Washington ... all Socialists are just Communists in disguise ... no student should be al lowed to read anything written by a Communist. , ." Those points of view am just a few of the politically radio- "'V9 hot potatoes that Florida statu education officials have been juggling for the past nine months. The Florida legislature set a national precedent last May with a law requiring that a six-week course on "Americanism versus Communism" be taught in all public high schools, starting next fall. Since then, the educators have learned the hard way that it is easier to talk about the evils of Communism than to design a high school course on the sub ject. They have had (he help of a 13-mcmbcr advisory committee representing a wide range of opinion. And they have had the unsolicited advice of scores of individuals and groups who pro fess to know exactly what the course should be. Castro 90 Miles Away Florida, with Castro's Com munist encampment just SO miles off its shores, is the first state to make an anti-Communist course mandatory in high schools. Other states have laws encouraging or permitting such courses. Still others are watch ing the Florida experiment very carefully to see whether they want to follow suit. The Florida law is painstak ingly clear: "The course shall lay particular emphasis upon the dangers of Communism, the ways to fight Communism, the evils of Communism, the falla cies of Communism, and the false doclrincs of Communism." Also: "The course . . . shall emphasize the free enterprise competitive economy of the United States ot America as the one which produces higher wages, higher standards of liv ing, greater personal freedom and liberty than any other sys tem of economics on earth." But what do you use for a textbook? To whom do you turn as authorities on Communism? What is essential, and what can be left out of the course? How much help do teachers need, and what kind.' These are the questions the law raises but doesn't answer. Florida still is looking for a suitable textbook, but doesn't expect to find one in time for the 1962-63 school year. It has, however, produced a 62-page teacher's guide which outlines the approach to be taken, the main points to be covered, and a list of 50 publica tions which may he used for reference or outside reading. Special Courses Special summer school courses and preschool workshops are planned for teachers who will be giving the course. Until a textbook is available, teachers will be asked to teach from the guide. The guide, naming no names but otherwise pulling no punches, has this to say about extremist groups: "Instructional materials pub lished by organizations combat ting Communism that use Com munist labels instead of facts, arguments and sound reasoning (are) of little value. "Individuals and organizations who use the Communist label for everyone and every organ ization they do not like, do dam- yyar'i Mws,r' . 'J,'"7 t' v or --.yT i mi . .. V-J 1aJi 1 ..vi : i W'-v. ' ft. . U - - iJ 1 ) I lvVCi .4 tint mmm mm " V' f 3 4 J'. V, -it 'I 7, i j ' is m- 9 Tall Stack (AP WIrephoto) His smile belies the problems Fred Turner faced in supervising prepara tion of a teacher's guide for Florida's new mandatory high school course in "Americanism versus Communism." Turner, assistant director of education of the Florida Department of Educa tion in Tallahassee, stands beside a tall stack of books, some of the many he read to help in designing the course on anti-communism. Meetings Scheduled Monday By Three Springfield Agencies Three Springfield govern mental agencies will meet Mon day evening. One meeting, lhat nf the Springfield City Council, will he an informal work session to discuss the question of salaries for municipal employes during 1962-63. The meeting will start at 7:30 at the Springfield li brary. Also meeting will be the Wil lamnlano Park District budget committee and the Springfield rinnning Commission. At its initial session to formu late a 1062-63 park district budget, the committee will re ceive budgetary recommenda tions from Supt. Robert Artz. The session will start at 7:30 at the Memorial Bldg. Springfield planners, meeting Group Urges Ordinance An ordinance to prevent cruelty to chicks, ducklings, gos lings and rabbits offered for salo or as prizes will be pro posed to the Kugcne City Coun cil at its next meeting. The Lane Humane Society is suggesting that the ordinance he adopted. The council will get the proposal at its meeting April 9. The ordinance would prohibit artificial coloring of such ani mals offered for sale or as prizes. It would also prohibit the sale or of.Vring of chicks, ducklings, and goslings if they are less than four weeks -jld in quantity of less than 12 birds to a buyer. Further, the ordinance would require those offering the birds for sale or prizes to provide brooders or other heating de vices necessary to keep them in good condition, and to keep adequate food and water avail able. The ordinance to be proposed here is a model ordinance pre pared by the Humane Society n the United States, o( which the Lane Humans Society it an affiliate. at 7:30 at the Springfield city Hall, will conduct several pub lie hearings on zoning matters. These hearings are scheduled: Request by William J. Hol ly for a special permit to con struct a trailer park in a com mercial district at about .12nd Street and the McKcnzie High way. Request by Gordon Obie for a variance from the sign restrictions in a commercial (C 1) district in order In erect a double-lace poster board at Mo hawk Boulevard near K Street. Request by Arthur Bible for a variance from special set back requirements on Tenth Street in order to construct a dwelling on a lot at the noth west corner of Tenth and N streets. Request by William Lud wig for a variance from yard requirements in a residential district in nrder to convert a single-family dwelling into a rest home at 1317 N. 18th St. Request by Bert W. Rich ards for rczoning from heavy industrial (M 3) to medium in dustrial (M-2) a triangular- Red Radio Wrong BONN, Germany i.f A Mos cow radio report saying Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss had recommended that West Ger many manufacture its own hy drogen bomb is total nonsense, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Saturday. shaped tract bounded by Com mercial Avenue, E Street and 42nd Avenue. Request by Tom Blair for rczoning trom suburban resi dential to commercial (C-3) 400 feet of frontage along the Mc Kcnzie Highway between the Weyerhaeuser Uoad and 49th Street in order to develop an integrated shopping center. Planners will also give con sideration to the future develop ment of the grounds around the white horse statue near South A and Mill streets. They will also discuss future development of an arboretum between Third and Fifth streets between the floodway and the new Q Street. STATEMENT on ' ADVERTISING POLICY . . . Tha Eucen Reff-Jtcr Guard believes thai it Is In tha publlo tntereat (or all advertising to h truthful and accural. To tup port this belief tha ReslsterGuard with th cooperation of adver tisers mnkes Avery effort to exclude misleading Inaccurate and unethical advertising from tha newspaper The Management Eugene Register-Guard Showdown JT CONOMV 314 Mile Classic PLYMOUTH 17.6 M.P.G. FORD 14 8 M.P.G. . CHEVROLET - 13 9 M.P.G. orririAi. v.. tstino re, TRY THE CHAMP "jl Ml age in the battle against Com munism." Fred Turner, the state's text book chief, ia in over-all charge of the project. "We believe the approach to Communism is all-important in any high school course," he said. "It Isn't enough just to com pare the Russian system with ours, for that could lead to a distorted picture. What we must have is a critical analysis of the nature uf Communism, similar to that of a scientt who ex amines a poison in order to off set its evil effect. "Communism might appear to some to be federal aid to educa tion, or medical care for the aged, or public housing. But Communism can't be explained in those terms. The teacher's guide sets five objectives for the course. The student, it says, should: Develop a greater appre ciation of the American herit age, democratic processes, free dom of opportunity, enterprise under law, and the will to pre serve that freedom. Understand what the threat of communism means to the freedom of Americans. Obtain the factual picture of communism in all its aspects. Achieve a thorough under standing of the nature and evils of communism. Become aware of the grounds on which free people of the world have condemned communism. The guide points out that "communism is ,iOt merely a set of ideas, but an ideology com bined with a comLat organiza tion. It is an organized ideologi cal enterprise aiming not mere ly at carrying its ideology to power, but imposing its power on the whole world. . ." It also warns of Communist "Aesopian language or double talk," which means one thing to a Communist and something else again to a non-Communist. Sober Understanding Such double talk, the guide says, is found in the Communist use of such words as socialist or socialism, co-existence, democ racy, freedom, party, peace, people and imperialism. And the guide had this word for teachers: "Although totalitarian com munism is the greatest threat our nation has confronted, in struction about communism should not be designed to create hysteria or despair, but sober understanding of the danger. "The fact that communism is conspiratorial does not justify the adoption of its tactics to cope with the problem." Turner said he long ago gave up hope of pleasing everyone. "Some of the committee mem bers wanted the guide to say that the federal government in Washington has been infiltrated by Communists. And some peo ple wanted us to go even farth er and say that Communists controlled the government. "There also was pressure on us to paint the Socialists and the Communists with the same brush. They overlook the fact that Mayor Willy Brandt of Berlin is one of Europe's lead ing Socialists and, at the same time, one of Europe's leading anti-Communists." Rep. George Stallings, a con servative Democrat of Jackson ville and author of the legisla tion, complained that the teach er's guide didn't go deeply enough into what he called the pitfalls of socialism. "I don't want to leave the student confused about social ism," he told a meeting called to discuss the guide. "I want you to trace this thing from the first seeds of socialism into commu.iism, and make it clear that, if you practice it long enough, socialism will join into communism. "It should be all through this course." Stallings as dissuaded, on the grounds that socialism is a course of study in itself. "We had only eight months in which to develop the teacher's guide," Turner said. "We need ed years. And the law only calls for a six-week course, but a proper study of communism re quires at least three times that long, a full semester." Special Consultant Before he began putting the guide together, Turner confer red with authorities on commu nism all over the country, in person and by mail. He also read scores of books on the sub ject. The state board of education retained German-born Gerhart Niemeyer as a special consult ant to the advisory committee. Niemeyer is a professor of po litical science at Notre Dame University and a consultant to congressional committees on communism. "Many states have asked us for a copy of the law, because they are thinking of doing some think like this themselves," Turner said. "We also are getting requests from textbook publishers for our teacher's guide. We hope they will use the guide as the basis of a textbook which we could adopt." The anti-Communist course is designed for 12th graders, but probably will be offered in the 11th grade in some Florida schools. One reason for the national interest in the Florida program is this: never before has a state legislature spelled out so exact ly what shall be taught in the classroom. Florida, and many other states, have lawa requiring in struction in kindness to ani mals, the harmful effects of alcohol, etc., but the instruction itself is left to the individual teacher. There has been no protest from the teaching profession about the anti Communist course, but it is certain that Florida educators are pondering this question: If the state legislature can say exactly how anti-communism is to be taught, may it not someday be just as explicit about the teaching of American history, economics and all the other courses in the curriculum? Do you want to own or lemso a bulldlnc, from restaurant! to warehouses? Wa can furnish the site, architectural plans, con struction and financing. Firm contract or fee basis. Sound ten ants are available. Call Dl 94498, Wajne L. Johnson Investments, Inc. Used Underwood Electric Typewriter ... 199.50 LANE COUNTY OFFICE MACHINES CO. isis orchard at di 2-2127 Parkins tight outside tha doorl MOTEL and APT. HOUSE Owner and Managers We will install Laundry equipment on a per centage basis. TELEPHONE Dl 4-5248 for partlculari Follow the News and the Astronauts with this big 52' ' 38" Rand McNally... ' I f. J -... 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