DEANS PRICE, KEPPEL CRITICIZE BILL REQUIRING TEACHING OF COMMUNISM

Two University Deans have criticized a bill in the Massachusetts legislature which would compel State high schools to teach the virtues of free enterprise and the evils of communism.

Don K. Price, Jr., Dean of the Faculty of Public Administration, and Francis Keppel, Dean of the Faculty of Education, both strongly objected to any attempt by the State to impose a particular doctrine on its students.

Price said that any attempt by a state to indoctrinate its citizens is futile. Whenever a legislature undertakes to prescribe by law what is to be taught as the truth, it usually winds up by making the state look rather ridiculous. I do not believe that the teachers and parents of Massachusetts need to be instructed by the legislature in the moral and political principles that they should pass on to their children."

"I'm not at all in favor of this type of legislation," insisted Keppel, warning of the dangers which arise whenever a legislature tries to introduce its own ideas into school curriculum. Keppel cited analogous situations of compulsory instruction in other states, such as a year-long course in Texas history required in all Texas schools, and the strong emphasis placed on the evils of alcohol in other states.

The bill under consideration provides that all public high schools give instruction which "shall emphasize that the free enterprise economy of the United States provides higher wages, higher standards of living, and greater personal freedom than any other system of economics on earth. Particular emphasis shall be placed upon the dangers, evils, fallacies, and false doctrines of communism as well as ways to right it."

Sponsored by State Senator Richard C. Capels, the bill passed the Senate Thursday. In a surprise move, the House referred it to a committee; action by the House expected within a week.