<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Florida students are returning to school with a new subject on the syllabus: the history of communism. This change comes as democratic socialism gains traction in various parts of the United States, including traditionally Republican areas like Florida.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill in 2024 that mandates public schools to teach the history of communism, although the requirement will not take effect until the 2026–27 academic year. Florida students are beginning to engage with this new material.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The primary objective of this law is to educate students about the atrocities committed under 20th-century communist regimes, which is seen as a necessary addition to the historical narrative. The bill aims to ensure that the victims of communism receive recognition alongside other historical crimes like slavery and the Holocaust.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, critics argue that Florida's approach to teaching this material is unbalanced in two significant ways. A more comprehensive presentation could encourage other states to adopt similar educational requirements.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Firstly, Florida’s standards do not adequately address the social conditions that contributed to the rise of communism. The curriculum presents communism as an irrational phenomenon, ignoring the historical injustices that led to its appeal. For example, communist movements often emerged in societies marked by significant inequality, such as tsarist Russia, and understanding these motivations is essential for a complete historical perspective.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In contrast, Florida's curriculum for Holocaust education includes context about the Weimar Republic's conditions that facilitated the rise of Nazism. A similar contextual requirement for the study of communism is suggested to enhance historical understanding.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Additionally, learning about the reasons behind communism's appeal could foster better engagement with opposing viewpoints in today's polarized political climate. DeSantis's motivation for changing the curriculum was partly to counteract what he perceives as far-left ideologies. Understanding the historical context may better serve this goal.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The second major criticism is that the curriculum fails to acknowledge the atrocities committed by right-wing dictatorships in the 20th century. Anticommunist regimes in countries like Chile and Argentina also perpetrated significant violence, which is often overlooked in historical discussions.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Florida's academic standards aim to promote American values of liberty and democracy and include definitions of “democide” as the intentional killing of unarmed individuals by a government. It is argued that students should learn about threats to freedom from both left-wing and right-wing governments.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Historian Herbert Butterfield noted that new interpretations of history often initially overshoot their mark, presenting ideas in a crude manner. Florida’s new curriculum reflects this trend, focusing heavily on the condemnation of communism while neglecting the broader historical context, including the actions of other regimes.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In the future, Florida could maintain its critical stance on communism while also providing a more nuanced view of history. This balanced approach could encourage other states to follow suit, making the teaching of totalitarianism a non-partisan issue.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Christian Alejandro Gonzalez is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), focusing on civic education, Western political thought, and American historical memory.</em></p>