Siberia is "Land of Opportunity" Says 6th Grade Textbook
By Editorial Staff
Published April 2008
LONGVIEW, TX (FR) – The U.S. public education system is distributing Soviet propaganda in the guise of social studies textbooks.
Sixth graders are learning that Siberia is a land of opportunity, and not the location of slave labor camps for citizens who do not conform to Soviet wishes.
Mel Gabler, educational research analyst, recently gave a presentation to the Texas State Textbook Committee in Austin, Texas, concerning several social studies textbooks which give a radically different view of Soviet life. A few weeks after the presentation, the committee voted, without comment or discussion, to recommend for adoption all of the social studies texts that had been submitted by publishers.
According to the textbook, The World Past To Present, “Young Soviet workers go east much as young Americans used to go west to make their fortunes,” and “The Soviet government encourages these young people to do so. It offers them better wages, longer holidays, and life of adventure.”
After reading passages that describe Siberia as a “land of opportunity” and/or a “life of adventure” the student is assigned to write an essay that describes Siberia as a land of opportunity. Students are asked to include terms such as unexplored wilderness, life of adventure, and better wages in their passages.
Soviet satellite countries are termed ‘independent nations,’ although they are under Soviet control. The text does not indicate that the Soviets should divest themselves of their colonies (satellites) as is stressed for Western colonies. Angola, Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are called independent nations.
The absence of civil rights in totalitarian Marxist nations is virtually ignored in the textbooks. The harsh regimentation in China is depicted as beneficial teamwork. Communism is not totalitarian, but midway between democracy and totalitarianism, according to the textbooks.
The textbook is also 20 years out of date with the civil rights situation in South Africa. Chief Buthelezi, a black moderate who is the elected leader of 7,000,000 Zulus and represents the vast majority of South African Blacks, is not mentioned, whereas Bishop Tutu who conveys the radical extremist position of the African National Congress is given prominence even though he represents only a tiny percentage of the Blacks in South Africa.
Regarding genocide, the textbook censors the fact that the Soviet Union has eliminated approximately 23,000,000 people. German atrocities are clearly set at 6,000,000. In China, the estimated number of persons eliminated in purges run from a minimum of 45,000,000 to over 80,000,000.
Traditional American values are considered a “moral equivalent” to Marxist values. The student is never told that the Marxist value system is directly opposite the values upon which our nation was founded, and which are still held by a vast majority of American citizens.
Mel Gabler and his wife, Norma, analyze and provide evaluations of textbooks and are based in Austin, Texas. For more information, write: The Mel Gablers, P.O. Box 7518, Longview, Texas 75607-7518.
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