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On the other side, William J. Reid, head of the history department at Boston's Dorchester High School, says flatly: "I don't think any high school youngsters know enough history to refute Marxist arguments. For most people, you have to say that this is wrong and it doesn't work, and cite examples from history to prove it." The seminars taught in Louisiana schools are charged by the state board of education with "exposing the deceitful character and dangers of the international Communist conspiracy," and "outlining the superior characteristics and advantages of a free economy as compared with the controlled collectivist economy of socialism and communism." Dallas titles its program. "The Principles of American Freedom in Contrast to the Tyranny of Communism." In Florida each school must offer at least 30 hours of "Americanism v. Communism," and the teacher's guide warns that in contact with parents, "emphasis should be made that students are studying about the evils, fallacies and contradictions of communism, rather than 'studying communism.' "
Textbook Shortage. Until lately, texts have consisted mostly of J. Edgar Hoover's Masters of Deceit, the writings of Marx and Lenin, assorted serious explanations of Communism by authorities, and a range of less scholarly books down to paperbacks with scary titles and bloody hammers and sickles on the covers. Established textbook publishers are now beginning to enter the field with professional treatment. (TIME Inc.'s Silver Burdett will publish The Meaning of Communism this winter.)
For students, the endless dialectic of Communism can be as boring as living under Communism is for millions of Russians and Chinese. Citizens who worry about the new teaching freedom producing a generation of Bolsheviks can be cheered by the findings of John Richard Skretting, a Florida State University professor who tried out Florida's course in a laboratory school: "Some kids don't like Communism because they've had to sit through six weeks of the dull stuff."