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-
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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
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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?
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