American Educators’ Confrontation With Fascism

This historical study explores how educators in the United States responded to the rise of fascism between the World Wars. By considering and then ultimately rejecting the fascist approach to education and philosophy, American educators defined democratic education in contrast to fascist/totalitarian approaches to education by rejecting indoctrination and propaganda. The author argues that fascism provided a catalyst for pushing epistemological issues surrounding propaganda, indoctrination, relativity, and absolutism to the center of their collective consciousness in ways that parallel the controversies of today over “fake news” and “alternative facts.