People talk before the start of a rally against critical race theory being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
As tensions between China and the United States reach an all-time high, it’s important to ask the following questions: What kind of children are being created in both countries? Which of the two groups of students will be the best equipped to combat the challenges of tomorrow?
Education in China is, shall we say, a little different. Heavy on fiction and light on facts, children as young as 7 years old can be found reading textbooks that refer to the country’s leader as “Grandpa Xi.” In fact, from primary schools to universities, textbooks displaying Xi Jinping in an exceptionally positive light are very much the norm.
In the United States, a very different type of indoctrination is occurring. Its effects can be felt all the way up the educational ladder, from primary schools to university classrooms. Designed to erode children’s sense of innocence, it’s called Critical Race Theory (CRT), a neo-Marxist philosophy that, as the Wall Street Journal so accurately put it, “rejects equal opportunity, merit and objectivity.”
Now, I ask, which type of indoctrination is worse, the brainwashing occurring in China or the brainwashing occurring in the United States? Both are abhorrent. After all, the children of today are the adults of tomorrow.
Before I continue, the following must be said: This piece is not a direct comparison between communist China and the United States. One country is run by a totalitarian regime; the other is not. In the United States, people are relatively free. In China, freedom is nonexistent: people are watched closely; dissenting voices are quickly silenced.
This piece is a comparison of dangerous ideas in two very different countries, as well as the effects of these dangerous ideas. No one should be shocked or surprised by what is occurring in China, a country where propaganda is par for the course. In the United States, however, the recent push to indoctrinate children is both shocking and surprising.
Before I am accused of being hyperbolic, let me ask the following: What is indoctrination? It’s nothing more than the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically. Education, in its purest form, emphasizes critical thinking. With indoctrination, however, the desire to engage in critical thinking is rendered obsolete. Children are asked to suspend their disbelief indefinitely.
In China, “Xi Jinping Thought” became a core component of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Constitution in 2017. Clearly inspired by the cult of Mao Zedong, Xi is attempting to foster a new generation of fiercely loyal followers.
According to the country’s National Textbook Committee, every single textbook, from primary level to tertiary level, should “reflect the will of the Communist Party of China and the nation and directly impact the direction and quality of talent cultivation.” Primary schools, in particular, “should foster love and right understanding for the Party, country and socialism in students.”
In the United States, not surprisingly, indoctrination is also having harmful effects on the youth.
In April of this year, a concerned mother in Tennessee warned other parents about the dangers of CRT. One day, the unnamed woman’s seven-year-old daughter came home from school and declared that she was “ashamed” to be white. The daughter then asked her mother why so many people hated her because she possessed white skin. The young girl, distraught and “depressed,” then declared that she no longer wanted to go to school.
In Orange County, California, parents are bitterly divided over CRT. They’re also conflicted over whether or not a subject called ethnic studies has a place in the school classroom. Earlier this year, California made history by becoming the first state in the United States to make ethnic studies a mandatory requirement for high school graduation.
For the uninitiated, ethnic studies involve the study of race and ethnicity, as well as sexuality and gender. If anything, it appears to be a more expansive version of CRT, a direct effort to smuggle gender ideologies into race-based conversations. By smuggling even more controversial topics into American classrooms, education moves further away from its original goal. Instead of uniting children through a sense of awe and discovery, CRT seeks to divide the masses and deny objective truths.
People hold up signs during a rally against "critical race theory" (CRT) being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said that “a new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.” How about a whole host of new words? How about a new language that defines the way millions of impressionable people see the world?
Considering there is a whole dictionary dedicated to the description of various gender identities, one assumes that the children in California have a lot to learn.
Going forward, the different types of indoctrination occurring in Chinese and American classrooms will have serious ramifications—psychologically, spiritually, emotionally, and economically.
CRT, by design, is intended to cause greater divisions, separating people into groups such as “oppressor and oppressed” and “privileged and underprivileged.” The United States is already divided; some authors have warned that the country could be headed toward a new civil war. What’s occurring in American classrooms is only fanning the flames of hate.
In stark contrast, the Chinese system of indoctrination is intended to unify the masses. Whether or not it succeeds remains to be seen.
The author Haruki Murakami once wrote the following: “Kids’ hearts are malleable, but once they gel it’s hard to get them back the way they were.”
What about kids’ minds? Sure, they are malleable. But, by the time a child graduates from high school, after a decade of interminable indoctrination, the damage is difficult, if not impossible, to remedy.
In China, the CCP is attempting to create a more cohesive unit, with all students singing from the same hymn sheet, quite literally. In the United States, on the other hand, many students are engaging in a form of self-flagellation, harboring a deep hate for both themselves and the country they are being raised in.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist. He covers psychology and social relations, and has a keen interest in social dysfunction and media manipulation. His work has been published by the New York Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, Newsweek, National Review, and The Spectator US, among others.
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