Do you know what the Communist Manifesto and Frankenstein have in common? For starters, both are horror stories about how to create monsters. It might surprise you to learn that both were also flagged in a survey of the most-assigned books at top public universities. Frankenstein came in at number nine and the Communist Manifesto stole the show at number four. Putting aside Frankenstein for the moment, let’s pause to consider why the Communist Manifesto might be such a popular read for our nation’s youth.
To be fair, the survey does not tell us the manner in which Karl Marx’s treatise was assigned. I believe that the Manifesto should be studied and exposed for the fraud it is. However, knowing what most parents already know about public colleges, it’s fair to say that Marx is probably not being taught from a critical point of view. Many of these universities are setting up Marx as an example for all of us to aspire to, despite the fact that he was a lazy bum who refused to do an honest day’s work and essentially let his family fall apart around him. Karl Marx is no model for anyone to follow.
The real shock of this survey is not that the Communist Manifesto is so widely studied. It’s the books that aren’t on the list that have me concerned. Where’s Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations? Where’s Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America? Where’s Phyllis Schlafly’s A Choice Not An Echo? These are the questions students and parents should be asking. It is no accident that liberal college campuses have become bastions of leftist ideology churning out more indoctrinated young people every year. Students are not taught how to think. They are simply taught what to think. Sadly, what most professors want students to think is rarely worth thinking.
If eyes are the window to the soul, books are the doorway to the mind. If you are a student who wants to be able to think for yourself, you’re going to have to go beyond the required readings in your courses. Read a wide variety of the classics and always keep your mind open to the truth.
