Nebraska Bill Would Require K-12 Schools to Teach Evils of Communism

The Nebraska legislature has introduced a bill that would require K-12 schools to teach about the evils committed by communism.

Introduced by Nebraska State Sen. Dave Murman (R), Bill 1024 “would require each Nebraska school district, starting next school year, to make time to teach the history of communism — worldwide and in the U.S,” per the Nebraska Examiner.

“The proposed curriculum would range from covering what the bill describes as ‘the increasing threat of communism in the United States and its allies through the 20th century’ to ‘mass killings that have occurred under communist regimes,'” it added.

The summary for the bill added that the lessons on communism’s evils should “be age-appropriate and cover topics such as the history of communism in the United States, atrocities committed in its name globally, a comparison of political ideologies like communism and totalitarianism with American democratic principles, the historical threat of communism through the 20th century including specific events like the Cultural Revolution in China and the history of the Soviet Union, the persecution of religious faiths under communist regimes, and the economic and political factors leading to communist revolutions.”

“Additionally, the bill requires the State Board of Education to adopt academic content standards for the history of communism by January 1, 2027, and amends existing law to ensure that committees on American civics examine and approve social studies curricula that align with these new requirements, reinforcing the importance of civic knowledge and patriotic education,” it added.

Murman, chair of Legislature’s Education Committee, said that the amount of young people who still regard communism as a legitimate ideology proves that the education system failed to instill an important lesson about American history.

“There’s a lot of students, especially in college, and kids that are out of the K-12 school system, who seem to support socialism and even communism nowadays,” Murman said. “I think we just have to be diligent that the risks and dangers, bad things that happen under communism, are taught in our schools.”

The bill would also require students to take a written test “identical to the entire civics portion” of the U.S. citizenship test before completing eighth grade and high school.

The largest teacher’s union in the state of Nebraska said it will oppose the bill.

“These aren’t good standards,” Tim Royers, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, told the Examiner. “This isn’t the right way to teach history.”

Royers added that the legislature should “let teachers write the social studies standards.”

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