Rockville, MD Public High Schools Use 1965 Soviet History Textbook in Social Studies Curriculum

Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville MD ^ | Unknown | Social Studies Curriculum Staff

[CaptIsaacDavis]

Many years ago my friend Robert Wible was stationed in India with the United States Information Agency. He returned to the U.S. with a textbook "Modern History" which was had been published in the Soviet Union. Translated into English, the book was being used in Indian schools.

What is interesting about the book is that it tells a very different story than is usually presented in American textbooks. As the book covers the period from Middle Ages to the 1870s, various chapters of the book can be used to contrast the traditional American and the 1960s Marxist-Leninist interpretations of major historical events.

Over the coming months I will be placing chapters from this book, including pictures, maps, original source documents, and student questions, on the Internet. The first chapter posted is on the American Revolution, the second on the Civil War.

If you wish to comment on "Modern History - A Soviet Viewpoint," please fill in the comment form. These comments will soon be posted on a separate page

[CaptIsaacDavis]

What the...11th graders being educated on Leninist/Soviet interpetations of U.S. history? Even the Russians are trashing that garbage...and it is being reinvented here, in MD, Seattle, Detroit, and other counties/towns with radical left-wing school boards.

[BladeLWS]

Modern History from the Soviet Viewpoint? Call me blind but do I see flat out liberalism at these schools or is it just me?

[tfecw]

I remember sitting in my 4th or 5th grade social studies and the teacher telling us that if we had his class the previous year we'd only have to learn one country, the USSR. This year we have to learn a lot more. ;)

I've hated Russia ever since </sarcasm>

[VeniVidiVici]

Bump.

Any Rockvillians touch this thread please ping me.

[MJY1288]

Do you know if these interpretations are being compared to the facts?

My Son-in-Law teaches Modern History in Md. (Frederick County) and he uses some of the Soviet Union text books as an example of how people can be easily misled in a Totalitarian Society where there is no freedom of speech, or a free press.

[MJY1288]

I lived in Montgomery County MD. until 1992, I left because of the Democrats raising my property taxes

[MJY1288]

There is an old saying that goes like this... "No person or form of Governmant is completely worthless, they can always serve as a bad example"

[Criminal Number 18F]

It sounds like they're looking at the compare-and-contrast angle. It would be just as edifying to do that with a 2005 US textbook and a 1965 US textbook -- before patriotism went out of style and it became mandatory for textbook writers to ascribe all good deeds to minorities.

These are 11th Graders -- they should be able to handle looking at the Soviet point of view without turning into Alger Hiss. By age 17, everyone but sociopaths understands multiple points of view...

I think it's a pretty creative way to teach a class, actually.

In my 10th or 11th Grade class, I forget, I took a history elective called "Russian-Soviet Studies." It was team teaching with two liberal and one conservative teachers. We covered Russia from ancient history to the present day (which was 1974 or so, the height of Soviet power). I thought it would be worthwhile to know the enemy in case I wound up in the military after college (which I did, and I still retain stuff that Mr Perlow, Miss Marino, and Mr Labrie taught me all those years ago).

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

It's not liberalism. It's flat-out Leftism. Straight from the pages of the Soviet text. Literally.


(Classical liberalism is the ideology our founding fathers fought for. It's a shame that good term has been hijacked by Leftists. But that's what they do.)

[commonasdirt]

I would love to read a copy of that translated book. I will have to check booksellers and ebay. It would certaily be good for a laugh. I would hope any teacher who uses it in a history class does explain that it is only good for comparison to reality and for a laugh

[commonasdirt]

Oh wow. I urge everyone to click on the above link and read a bit......its really a hoot.

[LizardQueen]

I'd like a copy, too. I collect Soviet and cold war doodads (you know who won when the opposition starts selling all it's stuff on E-bay :lol: ).

LQ

[commonasdirt]

The selling of items related to the old regime is/was sorta like capitalist system training. LOL See all thse "Hero of the Revolution " medals had value after all.

[Sthitch]

I grew up in Rockville, went to those lovely Montgomery County schools in the 80's (Rockville HS), and made my escape as soon as I could. This sort of thinking was not that uncommon amongst my teachers at that time.

The scariest part is that Montgomery County's politics make Arlington's look mainstream.

[VeniVidiVici]

Me too. Went to RM for a year then the folks moved up to Gaithersbug and so I transferred to Wootton.

Believe it or not, RM was listed recently as the 9th (10th?)highest rated school in the country. LOL! How things have changed.

Anyhow, there was a Russian bookstore somewhere off Twinbrook Pkwy near NIH. During the Cold War one could always count on a few Soviet embassy cars being in the parking lot. When I walked in there I always imagined everybody to be KGB ;-)

Do you know of this place? If so, do you remember the name? I can't remember the name and it's bugging the heck out of me!

[dangus]

Compare and contrast? That's the EXACT same thing I was taught in publik screwel!

The only part of the Soviet textbook that's a different characterization is the strange bit about England siezing Manhattan from the Dutch. Other than that, it seemed more POSITIVE than American textbooks.

[CaptIsaacDavis]

When you probe the directory of this school system's social studies curriculum there is no context at all as to where this book is coming from (and a very heavy left-wing bias in other areas by the way). I personally would be less concerned if they were having kids read a Cold War book on Communist quotations (by a realist here in the U.S.: there were a number put out by certain top military analysts in the 1970s and 1980s: Brassey's defense publishers was the publisher if I recall) in proper context (e.g., to illustrate the inherent evils of Leninism and Stalinism, or the absurdities and failures of Marxist thought). Here, the premise is that they are using a Soviet textbook, not on Cold War history, but on the Civil War and its aftermath -- that is, skipping the totalitarian, ideological, or world view contexts entirely to jump right into using base propaganda to offer an "alternative" viewpoint on the Civil War and its aftermath. What's next an Iranian version of U.S. history? How on earth is any of this useful for PUBLIC educational purposes -- in 2005?

All of this "comparativist" history and social studies nonsense has got to go...It's obviously not working in a country where public school children, even in top school systems, still graduate with huge gaps of knowledge about simple facts and dates in U.S. and Western Civ. history.

[quietolong]

I just finished reading the book:

Rising Tide
The untold story of the Russian Submarines that fought the cold war
Gary Weir & Walter Boyne
2003

http://www.risingtidebook.com


Rising Tide tells the Soviet side of these secret operations. Drawing on newly available
archives as well as interviews with a dozen former Soviet Commanders


It’s a little one-sided at times. But the US Navy not about to open there files to conform
some of the clams. But it seemed very convenient that they could stumble across a US
missile boat on patrol to trail it.

In:
Appendix One: The History Of The Russian Navy According To Gorshkov

Who is considered the creator of the modern Soviet fleet.
Parts are good but when it comes to US history. Well it sounds just like a lefty liberal
talking. Give this appendix a read if you want to see what these poor kid are reading

[Capriole]

My daughter is in eleventh grade in Rockville. This beautiful young woman is in ROTC, belongs to the NRA, trains Thoroughbred horses, drives tractors, acts in movies, does historical reenacting for a hobby, and is on the honor roll despite taking AP classes. She would hugely enjoy taking this class and reading this material. And if the teacher acted up or got a little bit left-of-center, as they tend to do, she would rip him a new one. She seems to have no hesitation about standing up in class and telling it exactly like it is.

[rwfromkansas]

I don't get it.

What is wrong about contrasting their interpretation with ours?

It sounds fasinating to me. He isn't getting rid of the US textbook, just using it as a teaching tool to show what our enemies were saying.