OCR Text |
Show D C SIXTH GRADERS TO LEARN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMMUNISM AND CAPITALISM N A guide for teaching sixth graders the differences between be-tween capitalism and communism a program which The American Legion encourages for the nation's schools under its Americanism activities will be available to District , of Columbia teachers for the first time next year. The course outline, prepared by a supervisor in the District's Dis-trict's department of instruction, has been enthusiastically approved by the school board. It was prepared, School Supt. Carl F. Hansen explained, because, be-cause, "while we want to be sure not to indoctrinate students unwittingly un-wittingly in communism, we do not want to fall into the trap of ignoring the characteristics of the system." The purpose of the study, he said, is to give children the facts an informed citizen needs in order or-der to understand both systems and "to engender enthusiasm for our own freedom based on that information and understanding." Government is defined at the outset as being "for the benefit of the state" in Russia and "for the benefit of the individual" in r . the United States. The outline also calls for detailed de-tailed instruction in the history, culture, economy and geography of the U S S R. Suggested study topics include how the size of Russia has affected the people and their way of life and the development de-velopment of the governments of the United States and Russia since their respective revolutions. revolu-tions. ' District school officials recognize recog-nize that the depth and breadth of the study will depend on the abilities of individual classes; however, the entire unit is based on questions actually asked by sixth grade students. |