One of the most influential ideas in the history of the world was shaped by the ancient Persian Zarathustra, whom the Greeks called Zoroaster. Human life, he said, is part of a cosmic battle between good and evil, between Mazda, the good force, and Ahriman, the evil. When political and military leaders of America and the USSR talk about each other, we can see that this ancient idea is alive and
... [Show full abstract] kicking. We hear about "peace-loving people" against "imperialist aggressors," and "freedom-loving people" against "evil empires," and so on. One of the great attractions of Zarathustra's idea is that it relieves one of the burden of trying to understand why one's opponents behave the way they do: they act that way because they are evil. Zarathustra's idea has always fit in comfortably with hate and war. Education is concerned with understanding. If people are to live together, they must develop some understanding of each other- enough, at least, to see in general terms why others behave the way they do. Students today receive from much of the popular media and from many politicians a Zarathustrian view of the world, in which peace-loving America acts from good motives, whereas the USSR is repressive, devious, expansionist, oppressive, and generally evil. (Translate to Catholics and Protestants, Israelis and Palestinians, blacks and whites, etc., depending on time and place.) The educational problem is to provide students with some way of making sense of conflicts between the USSR and America that is as graspable as the good/evil binary opposites but is more likely to lead in the direc
