GOP lawmakers reintroduced legislation last week that would create a curriculum addressing the history of communism.
The bill, called the Crucial Communism Teaching Act, is designed to educate students on the history and dangers of communism. The legislation was introduced by Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO).
According to the bill, high school students would learn that communism has “led to the deaths of more than 100,000,000 victims worldwide,” while more than “1,500,000,000 people still suffer under communism.”
The curriculum would include a “comparative discussion of certain political ideologies, including communism and totalitarianism, that conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy that are essential to the founding of the United States” and include stories called “Portraits in Patriotism” from individuals who “demonstrate civic-minded qualities” and are “victims of the political ideologies” described in the bill.
Scott said in a statement accompanying the bill, “For decades, the left has worked to promote failed socialist and communist ideologies that go against the very values we and President Trump are fighting so hard to protect. Our bill, the Crucial Communism Teaching Act, will provide schools with necessary resources to educate our future generations about the dangers of communism, helping to preserve the freedoms and principles that define our nation.”
Kennedy called communism a “cancer” that “always produces the same results: oppression, suffering and death.”
“We must teach the next generation of Americans the threat communism poses to liberty and justice for innocent people around the world,” he said.
Schmitt emphasizes that the education system has “fallen short educating young people about the dangers of communism and its long dark history of oppression, persecution, and violence. That’s why I am proud to be co-sponsoring Senator Kennedy’s Crucial Communism Teaching Act.”
A companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL).
