# Plain Language Summary: Crucial Communism Teaching Act (S. 1001)

## What This Bill Does

This bill directs the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to create educational materials about communism and similar political systems for high school students. Specifically, the foundation would develop a curriculum for civics, history, government, and economics classes that compares communism and totalitarianism with American democratic principles. The bill also calls for creating oral history resources featuring personal stories from people who have lived under communist regimes and can speak to the differences between those systems and the United States.

## Who Is Affected

The primary beneficiaries would be high school students across the country, who would have access to these educational materials. Teachers and school administrators would also be affected, as they would implement this curriculum in their classrooms. The bill specifically targets state and local educational agencies to help integrate these materials into existing courses. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation would take on the responsibility of developing and promoting these resources.

## Key Provisions

The bill emphasizes teaching students that communism has caused significant historical harm (citing over 100 million deaths) and that approximately 1.5 billion people currently live under communist governments. The curriculum is intended to be comparative—showing how communism and totalitarianism differ from American democratic values—rather than simply condemning these systems. The materials are designed to be flexible and compatible with multiple existing high school courses rather than requiring entirely new classes.

Crucial Communism Teaching Act

Kennedy, John

Crucial Communism Teaching Act This bill directs the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to develop a civic education curriculum and oral history resources for high school students to promote understanding of certain political ideologies (e.g., communism and totalitarianism) that conflict with principles of U.S. democracy.