As much as I loved reading George Orwell’s 1984, I never hoped for it to reflect the reality we live in. I’d like to think that most Americans would agree with me.
Unfortunately, the recent developments in the “freedom of speech” in American educational institutes feel all too Big Brotherly. Exploring parallels between the fictional dystopia of 1984 and the very real year of 2025 raises a concern about the current state of the freedom of press and freedom of expression in the schools and universities of the United States. This is relevant to many of us considering future studies in America. IB students are proud of their critical thinking skills: something that is not greatly appreciated in Orwell’s Airstrip One.
The main character of 1984, Winston Smith, works in “rectifying” official records which might contradict or weaken the authority of the Party. Newspaper articles, statistics, and speeches are altered and erased to suit the needs of the government. In the United States, the First Amendment was created to protect the freedom of expression and to prevent such governmental intervention. This right to free expression should not be stripped away when entering a school building.
However, the Trump Administration has ignored and violated many students’ and teachers’ legal rights protected by the Amendment – and this is despite the constant propaganda about “restoring the freedom of speech” as the White House phrases it. Orwell describes this with the term “doublethink”: the ability to simultaneously believe in two contradictory ideas. Like, you know, advocating for the freedom of speech while restricting it at the same time.
A particular hot spot in the freedom of speech seems to be the Israel-Hamas war. The Pen America Freedom to Write Index 2024 expresses a concern about the silencing of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices in college campuses, including attempts to deport student activists. A student named Mahmoud Khalil was taken from his home and shipped to Louisiana for the sole reason of expressing pro-Palestinian views. Ultimately, an immigration judge ruled the deportation of Khalil to Algeria or Syria. Similarly, hundreds of students have had their visas revoked for participating in on-campus activism. It is unarguable that these actions set an incredibly dangerous precedent for the freedom of press and speech in American schools. Sound dystopian yet?
The attacks on the freedom of speech in schools don’t only concern individual students, but also the syllabi. The White House has accused schools of “indoctrinating their children in radical, anti-American ideologies”. Instead, they should provide “an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding”. If you’re thinking oh, that sounds a little suspicious, that’s because it is. This “ennobling characterization” has included, for example, the banning of the teaching of critical race theory in several states because they believe it accuses all white American people of being racist.
The erasure of history is the molding of future. As Orwell brilliantly puts it, “who controls the present controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”.
The US government has also made efforts towards terminating all DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] programs in schools. Silencing voices of minorities in the past and in the future is seemingly part of Trump’s mission to Make America Great Again. These laws and occasional threats of what to teach and what not to teach instill fear in teachers and encourage self-censorship, or in more Orwellian terms, “self-rectification”.
Not to mention the erasure of “woke” diction – because “gender” is a very dangerous word. It reminds me of something that one of the Party members says in 1984: “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” The Defending Education webpage provides a comprehensive list of “woke jargon” that is “intended to mislead – to make harmful and extreme ideas sound admirable”. For example, the term “antiracism” is described in the following way:
Antiracism: Everyone should be opposed to racism. However, “antiracism” is an Orwellian phrase whose meaning is the exact opposite of how it sounds… “Antiracism” is incredibly destructive to our schools and communities. Its goal is to separate people into racial identity groups and then encourage feelings of shame, guilt, anger, and resentment toward the other groups.
According to Big Brother, two plus two equals five; according to Defending Education, antiracism equals racism. It is ironic that they describe this as “Orwellian”: presuming that they actually read 1984, I wonder if they drew inspiration from it.
Despite the worrying situation of censorship in American education, it is relieving to say that it has not yet quite reached the level of Big Brother. At least there are no telescreens on school walls, watching the students’ every move – that’s what I think, anyway. I have not seen any “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” posters either, even if America’s policies reflect that idea. Nevertheless, 1984 might be worth considering for those daily 10 minutes when Rellu reads. It might even bring clarity to some of today’s politics, who knows. As Orwell writes, “The best books… are those that tell you what you know already.”
Matilda Rantala 23KB
