Do schools do a good enough job of teaching us about the justifications for anti-communism and the cold-war?

Question

I guess I mean the moral justifications (if we should be learning that..) Im not saying that eveyone should be reading Ayn Rand but it seems like what we learn about Vietnam or Korea was that they were some strategic mistake, that everyone was overly paranoid and reactionary in the 50's. And that containment was all about superpower rivalry, and economic competition. I dont think much is taught (in the middle and high schools) about Stalin or Mao's purges..(about Russian and Chinese history) I worry cause it seems that if we can now view why we were fighting communism with a sort of relativist disdain, then is it not possible we will forget what was wrong with Fascism or in a generation perhaps with terrorism.

Answer 1

I read a great book that addresses this topic. It's called _Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything your American History Txtbook got Wrong_. Textbooks must be approved by school boards, who are accountable to parents. Parents object if their children are being taught things that differ from their worldview. I also think that there isn't enough time to teach all the viewpoints, or even more than two viewpoints.

Answer 2

Schools do not teach morality, only facts (or what has been approved as facts). For morality lessons, you will eventually find that there are arguments for and against everything, and by looking at things from a different point of view, everything is valid, and everything is invalid. The world is not quite so black and white as you want to believe.

Answer 3

In my opinion, no, schools don't do a good job,but its not the schools , its the local, and state governments that are responsible for this information.