This thesis will examine how the process of re-education of youth not only contributed to Hitler and Stalin's rise to power, but also to his maintenance. According to several different sources, re-education means re-education for a purpose, for Stalin and Hitler this purpose was to exterminate all opposition and preserve their seats of power. The main concern now is whether or not President Trump plans to follow in their footsteps by nominating Betsy DeVos as the new Secretary of Education. Accusing President Trump of planning a second Holocaust or a second Great Purge may seem drastic, but after isolating the early actions of implementing a new education system by Hitler and Stalin, it ultimately doesn't seem so inconceivable. Re-education is a powerful method of retaining power because it takes years to implement and it would take just as long to change the ideology if it had been corrupted. Rehabilitation is not necessarily a bad thing; in some cases it can be very beneficial in breaking down barriers and changing outdated theories. It is when re-education is tainted by power-hungry political leaders determined to use it as a safeguard that it becomes dangerous. There is substantial evidence, in the form of Hitler's Nazi youth and Stalin's re-education in labor camps, that supports this claim. The horrific crimes against humanity these two men committed through re-education have weary the world, and now we must ask: What are President Trump and Betsy DeVos planning? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “In God I trust; I won't be afraid. What can man do to me” (Psalm 56:11, Tree of Life version)? There are two concepts in this statement, the first being trust in God, even if that trust meant giving up life. The second concept is trust in others to treat others as they themselves would like to be treated. What can man do to me? There are several incidents throughout history that will forever bear witness to man's cruelty towards his fellow men. The most evil men in history, like Hitler and Stalin, gained and retained power through the act of re-education. Furthermore, they could implement and accomplish their own personal agendas without any resistance from the people as a result of this re-education – this can be applied to what is happening with President Trump's nomination of Betsy DeVos for the post of Secretary of Education. It is important to recognize that re-education is not a bad thing, in some cases, such as eliminating stereotypes, and developing better ways of doing things, it can be very beneficial. It is when re-education is corrupted by power-hungry leaders as a means to gain and maintain power that it becomes dangerous. Rehabilitation according to several different sources means re-education for new purposes. Hitler and Stalin's goal was to exterminate the opposition and safeguard their seats of power. The question is whether President Trump plans to follow in their footsteps by nominating Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. The isolated common factor between Hitler's and Stalin's early regimes is their use of re-education as a means to strengthen themselves as leaders - the proof of this is in the form of Hitler's Nazi Youth and Stalin's re-education in labor camps. It is still too early to judgeintentions of President Trump and Betsy DeVos, but there is one fact that must be acknowledged: There has been more opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos than any other Secretary of Education. Vice President Mike Pence had to cast a tiebreaking vote, but President Trump still upheld the decision. The question is why? Education is crucial for the progress of the nation, but it can also have disastrous results if misused. A perfect example is the Nazi regime which originated the abuse and corruption of education for personal gain. With the collapse of the Weimar Republic, Germany found itself in political and economic disaster, giving Hitler the long-awaited opportunity to seize power. Adolf Hitler provided the people with a goal and a scapegoat for the ruin of the country by first separating himself from the minorities (all non-Aryans) and then exterminating all minorities. This forced the people to Hitler and ultimately allowed him to do what he wanted. Beginning in the 1920s, the Nazi Party targeted German youth as beneficiaries of their re-education programs, as they knew that these children would eventually grow up to support or oppose their cause. Eccles (1999) indicates that it is during the development of children aged six to fourteen that they undergo serious biological, psychological and social changes. Hitler's indoctrination of the youth resulted in the formation of the so-called Hitler Youth, and it was at the extremely vulnerable and impressionable age of ten that the Nazi Party began to re-educate them. The first step toward re-educating children began by subjecting young people to four years of what was called Young Folk. After four years of participation in the Young Folk organization, depending on gender, the child would then enter either the Hitler Youth or the League of German Girls. During these first eight years of education, children learned: racial consciousness, obedience, self-sacrifice, the willingness to die for the Führer and the fatherland and, above all, devotion to Adolf Hitler (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, paragraph 4). . In addition to teaching these values, German educators also introduced new textbooks that reinforced love for Hitler, obedience to state authority, militarism, racism, and anti-Semitism. And as if all that wasn't enough, the portrait of Adolf Hitler was a staple in classrooms and served as constant motivation to become proud National Socialists. If, at the end of this training, the young adult was not a complete National Socialist, he would then enter 6 to 7 months of labor service. The initial goal of the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls was to create the illusion of a unified German community. However, after 1933, youth leaders sought to integrate boys into the Nazi national community for the sole purpose of preparing them for military service. By shaping the minds of youth, Hitler could shape the future; by ensuring that the coming generation shared the same mindset as the current one, it also ensured that the person in power would stay in power. Likewise, Stalin also recognized how powerful education could be and how overwhelming its absence was. Stalin wanted the bourgeoisie to remain the bourgeoisie and for that to continue he needed the proletariat to remain the proletariat. This “collective farm” of peasants provided the labor necessary for the collectivization of agriculture. The re-education that was to occur through this work was supposed to rid the peasantry of their "instinctsindividualistic and petty-bourgeois” (Snyder and Brandon, 2014, p. 28). Stalin feared the peasantry, his method of re-education was not so much for his own benefit as to safeguard his position. By keeping the peasantry in ignorance, he guaranteed the bourgeoisie a workforce, because it is only through education that people can climb the ladder of social class. While the peasantry made up the majority of those subjected to re-education through labor, a significant number of political and military leaders were also condemned to this brutal and distinctly non-educational exploitation of labor due to Stalin's excessive paranoia regarding disloyalty. of bureaucracy. This goal was achieved through the Moscow Trials, a fantastical conglomeration of “show trials,” so-called because defendants were forced to confess to crimes they did not commit in order to ensure their safety. and their families would not suffer any harm. This composition of exiled peasants and leaders was a resource to be redeployed in the interests of industrial development and Soviet soldiers. It was this forced collectivization and industrialization methodology that led to great deprivation among the Soviet people, thereby resulting in the deaths of millions. The bureaucracy had usurped the political power of the working class by “re-educating” them through a distinctly non-educational system (Rogovin, 1998). Once again we see re-education used as a means to an end for a higher social class. Stalin seized a position of power that allowed him to directly influence the intellectual life of the country he ruled. His corruption of the “educational” system still has the Soviet Union in ruins today. To understand the significance of President Trump's nomination of Betsy DeVos as the new Secretary of Education, you need to know what the Secretary of Education has control over. Some of the primary duties of the Secretary of Education include, but are not limited to: administering federal aid to schools and enforcing federal education laws, funding schools with large numbers of low-income students, the Federal Student Aid Administration and, through his office. Civil Rights, the Department of Education also addresses issues related to discrimination in schools and colleges based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics. Aside from the fact that DeVos has no substantial experience in higher education and is now responsible for administering financial aid to students seeking to pursue higher education, it is also well known that DeVos does not support the public school system that she now controls. the majority of funding for. DeVos said when asked about her stance on private and public institutions, “I will push for greater access to charter, home and religious schools” Merica (2017). Although parents always have a choice in which school they want their child to attend, DeVos may strongly encourage them to send their child to private schools. This is after she gutted public schools of funding. If parents cannot afford to send their children to these private institutions, they will have no choice but to send their child to public schools whose resources are virtually exhausted. All this with the support of President Trump who declared that "under his leadership, we will reform the American education system and break down the bureaucracy that holds our children back so that we can provide an education.