PrintMay 20, 2007
Socialism for tykes?
Inspiration is a truly wonderful educational software package, which teaches kids how to use visual learning. Gosh, I wish I'd had that in grade school - you can see outlines, concept diagrams, and basic facts, all with terrific visual icons. More than 25 million people use this product, including sixty percent of school districts in the United States, according to the company.
It's a great educational product, and home-schooling parents should really consider using it.
But there is a slight flaw under the "Social Science" heading in Inspiration. For "capitalism" we see an icon showing gleaming gold bars. For "socialism" we see two hands shaking in everlasting love and peace.
Socialism has not been quite as loving as all that. That isn't history or reality: It's propaganda for tykes who don't yet know enough to be skeptical.
Need I say that Inspiration was based on a government-funded project?
Oh, and here's a useful quote from a socialist who is now disowned by the Left. From Brussels Journal,
"Who Said This?From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2007-05-01 10:58'We are Socialists, enemies, mortal enemies of the present capitalist economic system with its exploitation of the economically weak, with its injustice in wages, with its immoral evaluation of individuals according to wealth and money instead of responsibility and achievement, and we are determined under all circumstances to abolish this system!'A quote from?Adolf Hitler in his May Day Speech, Berlin, 1 May 1927
(quoted by John Toland in his book Adolf Hitler, 1976, p. 306.)"
I think the talented people at Inspiration.com really mean well. They just don't know Western history or economics. They have been mis-educated. And they are inadvertently passing it on.
Still, maybe parents should congratulate the Inspiration crew on their wonderful work, and point out a slight flaw? Yasser Arafat was a socialist, Hitler was a socialist, Stalin and Mao called themselves socialists. They were all dedicated to human perfection in their own minds, and in the minds of millions of followers. They also caused more than 150 million deaths, using deliberate mass-murder and war. It wasn't that long ago, friends.
This is not a warm and loving track record to teach your kids.
Let's not teach stupidity to 25 million kids, please. Inspiration.com should voluntarily recall its products and correct a small but awful error.
Just as you would recall a tainted drug or food product, educational software must not peddle notorious falsehoods.
A kid's mind is an awful thing to poison.
James Lewis blogs at http://www.dangeroustimes.wordpress.com/
