Is This Iowa High School Teaching Students Communism Is Better Than Capitalism? See the Flyer

(Updated information on this story has been added to the end of this article.)

This curious flyer was handed out to students studying the history of the Cold War at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa.

What do you think the lesson was supposed to be?

Let's review.

The CAPITALISM side of the flyer shows workers in tattered clothing, chained to a machine that delivers all of the money produced to a cigar-smoking man who is also much better dressed.

Over on the COMMUNISM side, there is no boss and the smiling workers are better dressed, don't have chains on their legs and the money goes back to them.

This gem was discovered by Simon Conway of Iowa's Who Radio. A listener who is a parent of a student at the high school, sent the hand out to the radio host. Conway read the words of the flyer verbatim:

"Communism stands for equal sharing of the work according to the benefits and ability. But in Capitalism an individual is responsible for his works and if he wants to raise the ladder, he has to work hard."

He continued to read and clarify further:

"While the profit of any enterprise is equally shared by all in Communism, the profit in the Capitalist structure belongs to the private owner only."

Conway contacted Roosevelt High School for an explanation and was told that only person who could speak for the school on this topic is the principal. The Blaze has also reached out to Principal Kathie Danielson for comment. As of this writing, the principal has not responded.

UPDATE: Several calls to Roosevelt High School have gone unanswered. However, the school's website did post a formal response. We are posting the entire statement from the school, unedited.

RADIO TALK SHOW MISREPRESENTS CLASS LESSON ON COLD WAR

A talk show on WHO Radio has unfortunately misled listeners about a class lesson about the Cold War. The radio show posted, on its web site, only a selectively edited part of a class handout – entitled “The two sides of the Cold War” - in order to give a false impression that students were being taught to support communism.

In light of the misrepresentation caused by this talk show, we have posted the handout and assignments here on our web site so that people can see the complete document for themselves. Furthermore, the class, 20^th Century History, was studying the Cold War and propaganda, looking at some of the arguments both sides made about why their system was best on a range of topics, including their economies. The handout simply highlights the differences between capitalism and communism, and some of the arguments made during the period of the Cold War.

It is unfortunate that a talk show host decided to mislead his listeners in order to generate false criticism of our schools and our teachers.

To see the unedited lesson and assignments, click here.