On July 30, 2010, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request resulted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) releasing a file with 423 pages of information on Howard Zinn's life and activities. During the height of McCarthyism in 1949, the FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (FBI File # 100-360217), based on Zinn's activities in what the agency considered to be communist front groups, such as the American Labor Party, and informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the Communist Party of the United States." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn
FBI paid informants also reported that Humphrey Bogart was a Communist agent and Albert Einstein had developed a death ray with which he could conquer the world. FBI informants reports are not taken seriously as evidence by historians. If you want to read a Communist historian, as opposed to the anti-communist, liberal Zinn, read the books of Herbert Aptheker or William Z. Foster.
G-d help us all. I know that, back in the nineties, when I was in college, being a teacher was looked down upon as a profession for losers; it was common to hear, "well, if I can't get into a good grad school, or get a good job, I can always teach." I am not sure when the teaching profession became denigrated in the public's mind, but, its denigration led to its degradation; if teaching is considered a last resort for losers, then losers are all that it will attract. And, people who feel like losers are full of resentment, and resentful people are very, very drawn to Marxist ideas, to hatred, and to destruction (if THEY can be the destroyers, of course). I also know that many teaching schools have been bought by Qatar, a nation that wants to destroy the West and Western values and replace it with Islamic theocracy. In, 1999, I took the California Basic Education Skills Test, so I could substitute teach; while I was waiting to enter the test room, I heard people say that it was their THIRD time taking the test, and that it was unfairly difficult. When I took the test, I was APPALLED. The most difficult math was fractions, the essay question was "Describe your favorite summer vacation;" and the spelling and vocabulary sections were third grade level, at best. I finished it in 20 minutes even though the time allotted was 2 hours. For some reason, we had to wait the full two hours to turn it in, and when the two hours were up, 1/3 of the class had not completed the exam, and about 1/2 were just finishing.
Meanwhile, parents are pulling their kids out of public schools in many deep blue areas at rates like 10% per year ever since the 2020 lockdowns such as in Silicon Valley where homeschool options and new private schools are having explosive growth as public grammar school kindergarten enrollments are dwindling but for areas with large migrant immigration during the last White House Administration.
Zinn was a liberal, not a Marxist. Lenin and Mao praised the American Revolution.
On July 30, 2010, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request resulted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) releasing a file with 423 pages of information on Howard Zinn's life and activities. During the height of McCarthyism in 1949, the FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (FBI File # 100-360217), based on Zinn's activities in what the agency considered to be communist front groups, such as the American Labor Party, and informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the Communist Party of the United States." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn
FBI paid informants also reported that Humphrey Bogart was a Communist agent and Albert Einstein had developed a death ray with which he could conquer the world. FBI informants reports are not taken seriously as evidence by historians. If you want to read a Communist historian, as opposed to the anti-communist, liberal Zinn, read the books of Herbert Aptheker or William Z. Foster.
I am waiting for the "A Peoples History of the Islamic and Ottoman Empires". Oh wait, that would be considered racist.
G-d help us all. I know that, back in the nineties, when I was in college, being a teacher was looked down upon as a profession for losers; it was common to hear, "well, if I can't get into a good grad school, or get a good job, I can always teach." I am not sure when the teaching profession became denigrated in the public's mind, but, its denigration led to its degradation; if teaching is considered a last resort for losers, then losers are all that it will attract. And, people who feel like losers are full of resentment, and resentful people are very, very drawn to Marxist ideas, to hatred, and to destruction (if THEY can be the destroyers, of course). I also know that many teaching schools have been bought by Qatar, a nation that wants to destroy the West and Western values and replace it with Islamic theocracy. In, 1999, I took the California Basic Education Skills Test, so I could substitute teach; while I was waiting to enter the test room, I heard people say that it was their THIRD time taking the test, and that it was unfairly difficult. When I took the test, I was APPALLED. The most difficult math was fractions, the essay question was "Describe your favorite summer vacation;" and the spelling and vocabulary sections were third grade level, at best. I finished it in 20 minutes even though the time allotted was 2 hours. For some reason, we had to wait the full two hours to turn it in, and when the two hours were up, 1/3 of the class had not completed the exam, and about 1/2 were just finishing.
Teaching has always been a very respected profession in my world!
Very sad to hear that about your experience.
Tragic for children and our whole society.
Hope things will get much better soon.
Meanwhile, parents are pulling their kids out of public schools in many deep blue areas at rates like 10% per year ever since the 2020 lockdowns such as in Silicon Valley where homeschool options and new private schools are having explosive growth as public grammar school kindergarten enrollments are dwindling but for areas with large migrant immigration during the last White House Administration.
https://hxlibraries.substack.com/p/from-gramsci-to-marcuse