Bicentennial Collection: Education or Indoctrination?

Abstract

The texts found in the “Bicentennial” book collection have caused controversies in the Venezuelan social environment; while many people believe that the content
found in these books is purely political and that the texts are being distributed by the national government with the sole purpose of political indoctrination of young Venezuelans, the National Government and its supporters claim that an effort is being made to make education accessible to everyone by distributing these books for free throughout all the schools in the country. It is important to mention that although the books are free of charge, all schools in Venezuela are obliged by law to teach their students using the content found in these books. Moreover, Professor América Bracho, who coordinates the collection, explains how these books are based on “Tree of the Three Roots” 2 ideals proposed by the ex-president Hugo Chávez in his Blue Book (2010) literature and are key to understanding the foundations of the MVR2000 political party. In order to take an unbiased critical stance towards the emerging controversies that either criticize or support the content in these books, the following article analyzes one of the texts that was obtained from the collection with the purpose of evaluate whether or not the National Government is attempting to indoctrinate the Venezuelan younger generations.