People seemed to be content.
Fifty dollars paid the rent.
Freaks were in a circus tent.
Those were the days
- Theme to the Archie Bunker show
Ahhh. The good old days. Back when girls were girls and men were men.
Back when education was education and not indoctrination.
When was that exactly? I can’t say, but it was good then.
Maybe the video above has some of the answers. "Responsibilities of American Citizenship" was published in the mid-1950s by Drs. George Benson and Clifton Ganus as part of a civics series meant to teach students about their duties as American citizens and warn them of the danger of communism and socialism.
It starts with the song "America the Beautiful" and emphasizes American exceptionalism and the differences between the US and other countries. The film exalts American liberalism with a focus on republicanism, democracy, constitutionalism, and individualism, as well as capitalism, which is portrayed as private property, profit, and a free market.
Ganus, introduced as a "young historian," tells students that understanding the American way of life requires us to understand that our form of government is a republic, not a pure democracy, and we should clearly understand the difference."
He asks, "Who can tell us the difference in a few words?"
A properly coifed high schooler says, "A pure democracy establishes majority rule, with a minority overrun."
The young historian responds, "Yes, it does. But, on the other hand, our republic is based on a constitution that protects minority rights."
This is where I spit my coffee out.
The students in this southern segregation-era classroom were taught that the same republic excluding millions of Americans from economic and social opportunities based on race was a great protector of "minority rights."
And they believed it.
And they taught their kids to believe it.
And they grew up to become elected officials who still want our young people to engage uncritically about our nation as they did.
And to ignore the marginalized peoples who live as a counterpoint to all American advertisements, as they did.
Back in the 1950s, the United States was paranoid and justified in fostering national propaganda, given the significant change and uncertainty of the time. Even though the country was coming out of World War II as a superpower, the threat of communism was a constant reminder of the nation's dangers. In addition, propaganda was used as a tool in public education to shape the opinions and beliefs of American youth.
All these years later, the push against "Marxist" diversity programs and liberal concepts about who should be included in the American mainstream is yesterday's push against the same, without the heightened Cold War threats. Likewise, the fight against introducing today's students to concepts that challenge their perceptions of our country is yesterday's red scare needlessly renewed.
We have made so much social progress in the decades since then that I wonder why anyone would want our young people to be as preciously naive as the high schoolers in the video.
They were indoctrinated.
It wasn't good for us then, and it isn't good for us now.
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