Propaganda in the classroom? Impossible to imagine but true...

One particular news item caught my eye this week: North Korea releases latest round of propaganda posters.  Now this kind of thing isn't new for North Korea, which has released nearly 3000 different propaganda slogans since 1948 espousing the virtues of Kimilsungism and Kimjongilism, the value of organic food production, and the need to totally rid the nation of abuse of authority and bureaucracy.  We have also seen this sort of thing in Nazi Germany before and during the WWII and in China during and after the Cultural Revolution which established the communist regime.  It is one of the hallmarks of a totalitarian state.

Imagine my surprise then, when I learned that this same thing has been happening right here in Canada, right next door in B.C.!!  As associate of mine, a former teacher and member of the B.C. Teachers federation, informed me that "What We Stand to Lose with Pipelines and Supertankers" posters are all over B.C. classrooms.   I'm all for a healthy discussion, or debate on the merits and pitfalls of Oil production and transportation in Canada but nowhere on this poster does it encourage that idea.  Nowhere does it say that the poster itself couldn't have been made without Oil, and that a long term solution to the transportation of Oil MUST be found because our world is still dependent on oil whether we like it or not.  Thousands of families (yes, many in B.C. as well) depend on the export of Oil and Oil by products.  Where is the encouragement to our children to research and learn about ALL aspects of a topic.

A simplistic idea, with no factual support or thought of discussion, infused in the very education system is PRECISELY the same as what the Nazi's did during WWII, and what North Korea has been doing for decades.