I know what you mean when you say “brainwashing”, but I don’t think teaching children foundational Marxist ideas is at all brainwashing. In my experience as a parent and an early childhood/elementary educator, children are not naturally selfish nor are they naturally empathetic. This isn’t to say that a child’s mind is entirely tabula rasa. Children are in general much more welcoming and accepting of others. Our capitalist society encourages kids to be kind and to show each other respect. However, if a child’s material conditions and societal circumstances also encourage things like selfishness, competition, obedience — moreover those behaviors that perpetuate capitalist attitudes and are contradictory to values like empathy and kindness — then they will of course develop these more anti-society ways of thinking.
I believe it is important for kids to be shown the contradictions between what they are taught is important in early childhood (fairness, kindness, empathy, cooperation, etc) and what they are taught throughout the rest of their childhood/adolescence (what I mean is things like the exhalation of certain historical figures or lies about socialist movements, things like that).
My main point was that I would not go out of the way to sit them down and teach them this sort of thing. But if ones children come and ask on their own accord due to their own interest, then sure, you can share your perspective and why you believe it. Ultimately, politics that you inherit due to whatever your parents tell you are no better than religious beliefs you hold because of your family. If they come to the conclusion that Marxism is the most sensible method after having been given the tools and opportunity to observe their society with clear eyes and their own judgement, this makes for a much stronger conviction. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a lot of communists ended up with children who had no interest in it or became outright hostile to it in later life. We need to respect that they are separate people from us and that they like anyone else must learn these things for themselves if they’re to really understand it.
I feel like we all agree here. You can only teach your children so many “truths” about something they haven’t had any real experience with. Them asking and you teaching something is a push and pull and is reliant on their natural curiosity. Fostering that is very important.
That’s understandable, no one wants to feel lectured to or like they were indoctrinated earlier in life. That’s actually a big concern my partner and I have. That’s why we don’t explicitly teach them Marxist theory. I’m not going to explain to my 5-year-old what dialects are. That’s a discussion for a late teen or early adult. But I do help them develop a sense for dialectical thinking through example. That is not indoctrination, dialectics are a critical thinking skill that has utility outside of politics. Perhaps I’m being imprecise when I talk about what I think kids should be taught in terms of Marxist ideas. You are absolutely that there are examples of children of prominent communists who turned into reactionaries, I’m thinking of Stalin’s daughter who defected to the US. However, I will counter that with the entire country of China, where children (I believe typically stating in early teen years) are explicitly taught Marxist philosophy, though that is probably grossly oversimplifying their curriculum, which I know way too little about.
I know what you mean when you say “brainwashing”, but I don’t think teaching children foundational Marxist ideas is at all brainwashing. In my experience as a parent and an early childhood/elementary educator, children are not naturally selfish nor are they naturally empathetic. This isn’t to say that a child’s mind is entirely tabula rasa. Children are in general much more welcoming and accepting of others. Our capitalist society encourages kids to be kind and to show each other respect. However, if a child’s material conditions and societal circumstances also encourage things like selfishness, competition, obedience — moreover those behaviors that perpetuate capitalist attitudes and are contradictory to values like empathy and kindness — then they will of course develop these more anti-society ways of thinking.
I believe it is important for kids to be shown the contradictions between what they are taught is important in early childhood (fairness, kindness, empathy, cooperation, etc) and what they are taught throughout the rest of their childhood/adolescence (what I mean is things like the exhalation of certain historical figures or lies about socialist movements, things like that).
My main point was that I would not go out of the way to sit them down and teach them this sort of thing. But if ones children come and ask on their own accord due to their own interest, then sure, you can share your perspective and why you believe it. Ultimately, politics that you inherit due to whatever your parents tell you are no better than religious beliefs you hold because of your family. If they come to the conclusion that Marxism is the most sensible method after having been given the tools and opportunity to observe their society with clear eyes and their own judgement, this makes for a much stronger conviction. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a lot of communists ended up with children who had no interest in it or became outright hostile to it in later life. We need to respect that they are separate people from us and that they like anyone else must learn these things for themselves if they’re to really understand it.
I feel like we all agree here. You can only teach your children so many “truths” about something they haven’t had any real experience with. Them asking and you teaching something is a push and pull and is reliant on their natural curiosity. Fostering that is very important.
That’s understandable, no one wants to feel lectured to or like they were indoctrinated earlier in life. That’s actually a big concern my partner and I have. That’s why we don’t explicitly teach them Marxist theory. I’m not going to explain to my 5-year-old what dialects are. That’s a discussion for a late teen or early adult. But I do help them develop a sense for dialectical thinking through example. That is not indoctrination, dialectics are a critical thinking skill that has utility outside of politics. Perhaps I’m being imprecise when I talk about what I think kids should be taught in terms of Marxist ideas. You are absolutely that there are examples of children of prominent communists who turned into reactionaries, I’m thinking of Stalin’s daughter who defected to the US. However, I will counter that with the entire country of China, where children (I believe typically stating in early teen years) are explicitly taught Marxist philosophy, though that is probably grossly oversimplifying their curriculum, which I know way too little about.