Education in Roach-Busters
Education in Roach-Busters, as in many dictatorships, places greater emphasis on political indoctrination than on actual learning. As a result, much of the curriculum is centered around doctored versions of "history," where hostile nations as portrayed in the most evil light possible, while RB and allied nations are white-washed and portrayed as perfect paragons of virtue. Much of the education revolves around J.L.'s massive personality cult. Students are taught that J.L. wields near-infinite powers, was delivered to Roach-Busters from Heaven to salvage the world from Communism, and is the "Savior of Mankind." Students are drilled endlessly in political loyalty lessons, and, when thoroughly indoctrinated, develop an unshakeable, unconditional devotion to "Papa," as the populace fondly calls J.L.
Much of the teachings are designed to induce a deep hostility to the Mike Sarzo regime in Sarzonia. Among other things, students are falsely informed that Sarzo's ancestor wrote the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, using Karl Marx as a pseudonym. They are also taught that Sarzo's great-grandparents financed the Russian Revolution, invested heavily in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and that they were close friends (and possible relatives) of Lenin and Stalin. They are taught Sarzo's great-grandfather, 'Damien Sarzo,' (no such person exists) was a cunning and malicious banker solely responsible for the Great Depression. Allegedly, he was "an elusive member of the Illuminati, a Freemason, and a prominent banker, whose savvy but sinister economic manipulations brought forth the Great Crash. His intention? To create conditions of such grinding poverty that the populace of the world would hunger for socialism, setting the stage for communist manipulation, and, ultimately, exploitation. Thankfully, Damien Sarzo's plans did not come to fruition." Even more absurdly, they are taught Sarzo's distant ancestors concocted the bubonic plague "to eradicate Christianity and all its followers." In spite of Sarzonia's reputation as a stable democracy, students are taught that the country is hopelessly corrupt, mired in extreme economic and social turmoil, and run by power-hungry despots. Allegedly, gulags, repression, genocide, and total absence of freedom are the norm in Sarzonia.
Similar things are taught about RB's former ally, Pacitalia. (Interestingly enough, J.L. holds the country in high regard, and has no knowledge of these propagandistic teaching.) Roach-Busterian history books reveal that Timothy Ell's father, "Marko Ell, a shady businessman with tenuous ties to international crime syndicates, bankrolled subversion and revolution around the world- most notably, the 26th of July Movement in Cuba." Students are taught that the deplorable situations that allegedly exist in Sarzonia also occur in Pacitalia. At Minister of Justice Chia Neng Lee's insistence, history books have begun to describe Ell as "a hard-core Stalinist, a virulently anti-Christian despot whose hands are red with the blood of millions."
Another prominent enemy of Roach-Busters, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, receives similarly dismal coverage. Purportedly, the U.S.S.R., Pacitalia, and Sarzonia are "a single diabolical cabal of Marxism, operating under the guise of three independent tyrannies, but actually a single, monolithic entity of evil;" that is, that the three them are all one nation, operating as three, and that they are in reality a Marxist syndicate dedicated to spreading violent revolution to the four corners of the Earth. Students are informed that "only Papa J.L. can save us from this threat. Believe in Papa, trust in Papa, follow Papa, and love Papa, and salvation will come to Roach-Busters."
Just as RB's enemies are painted in the worst light possible, RB's allies are lavishly praised, virtually deified, in history lessons. Parthia's Shah Khosru III, for example, is "a stalwart defender of justice, a beacon of liberty that strikes terror into the hearts of all leftists, a paragon of virtue, a principled man blessed by his god, Ahura Mazda, and a noble ally of our nation." Doomingsland's Emperor Helldawg V is "an invincible warrior, an unrepentant adversary of immorality, a glimmer of hope in a world increasingly cloaked by the dark cloud of Marxism." Generic Empire's Emperor Antonius I is "one of history's greatest heroes, a giant among men, a god among mortals, and a truly magnificent human being." Any unsavory aspects of allied nations are either played down or (more often) ommitted completely from history books. Students learn to fondly address allies as "Uncle Khosru," "Uncle Helldawg," "Uncle Antonius," and so forth.
Science lessons, too, are strongly influenced by political dogma. The teaching of evolution, global warming, anthropology, and other "subversive" subjects, is banned, and teachers who violate this are subject to revocation of their teaching license and long jail sentences. Students are taught that the DNA of Communists is 99.999% similar to cockroaches, that they are not human beings, etc. Students are shown skulls of chimpanzees and told they are Communists' skulls, and they are also shown chunks of donkey feces, and are told the chunks are actually Communists' brains.
