Ask Lemmygrad

That’s understandable, no one wants to feel lectured to or like they were indoctrinated earlier in life. That’s actually a big concern my partner and I have. That’s why we don’t explicitly teach them Marxist theory. I’m not going to explain to my 5-year-old what dialects are. That’s a discussion for a late teen or early adult. But I do help them develop a sense for dialectical thinking through example. That is not indoctrination, dialectics are a critical thinking skill that has utility outside of politics. Perhaps I’m being imprecise when I talk about what I think kids should be taught in terms of Marxist ideas. You are absolutely that there are examples of children of prominent communists who turned into reactionaries, I’m thinking of Stalin’s daughter who defected to the US. However, I will counter that with the entire country of China, where children (I believe typically stating in early teen years) are explicitly taught Marxist philosophy, though that is probably grossly oversimplifying their curriculum, which I know way too little about.