New Documentary Examines Ideological Push in Canada’s Education System

A new documentary by a recent graduate of Canada’s education system explores how classrooms have become ideological battlegrounds, making the case that modern ideologies are taking precedence over long-standing educational values like virtue and the pursuit of truth.

Released on Nov. 6, “The Great Indoctrination” is a documentary by Canadian filmmaker Myles Vosylius about what he describes as a “crisis of education in the West.”

Drawing on his own experience and on interviews with education experts and advocates, Vosylius explores what he sees as the growing influence of socialist ideologies in classrooms, which he likens to forms of ideological control in countries such as communist China.

“There are intentional forces in our modern education system to get students to be comfortable with socialism, communism, all of that, and it’s apparent through the ideology that they are being taught,” Vosylius told The Epoch Times.

Education “is no longer about pursuing the truth, but it’s only about pursuing a certain personal truth that enables you to perform well at your job,” he added.

Canadian filmmaker Myles Vosylius in an undated photo. Courtesy of Myles Vosylius

Vosylius says the original aim of education in Western civilization was the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty, with a focus on forming individuals of good moral character.

He argues that when education is no longer grounded in these ideals, which he says is the case in Canada, students are deprived of the opportunity to pursue something “much greater than them,” leaving them to seek meaning in what he calls “modern” or “post-modern” ideologies.

Communist Influence

The documentary explores similarities between the promotion of ideas such as gender identity and social justice in Canada and the ideological control and group-think associated with communism. Vosylius says these similarities point to a broader issue of communism infiltrating the West.

“There was an intentional plan dating back centuries to infiltrate education—essentially to indoctrinate students—where they want to make them not able to think or be for themselves or for the good of society,” he said.

The documentary features an interview with author and human rights activist Sasha Gong, a former political prisoner in China who is now a U.S. citizen and holds a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University. She says one of the first areas communism targets in order to expand its influence within a society is the education system.

She points to China as an example, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) systematically targeted well-educated elites during the Cultural Revolution while subjecting younger generations to sustained propaganda.

A similar point is made in the 2020 book “How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World,” which explores communism’s global reach and its influence on various aspects of modern life. It says that although “communism is most obvious at the university level, it has deeply influenced primary and secondary school education.”

“Communist ideology gradually took over Western academia by infiltrating important traditional fields of study, as well as fabricating new sciences beholden to its ideological influence,” reads the book.

It adds that by promoting atheism and opposing traditional beliefs and morals, communism “instills moral relativism and modern concepts that convey a corrupt attitude toward life.”

Vosylius’s documentary cites a 2020 report by the U.S. National Association of Scholars that describes how the Chinese regime has gained strategic access to American K-12 education through Confucius Institutes, relationships with key educational organizations, and influence over teacher training and standardized test content.

It cites the example of a standardized test on U.S. history created by an organization the report says has deep ties with Beijing, that “presented America as an ill-conceived, hypocritical regime.” It also references a European history test that, according to the report, “treated Europe as nothing more than an engine of oppression and imperialism.”

Confucius Institutes (CIs) have also been a controversial issue in Canada. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has described them as part of Beijing’s efforts to expand its “soft power,” with former CSIS director Richard Fadden saying they are controlled by Chinese embassies and consulates and used to influence Canada’s China policy.

CIs are branded by Beijing as promoting Chinese language and culture, with hundreds of branches worldwide. In recent years, several institutions in Canada and abroad have ended their partnerships with CIs, citing concerns over academic freedom due to censorship of topics the CCP objects to, discriminatory hiring practices, and community pushback.

‘A Spiritual Battle’

Vosylius describes the state of Canada’s education system as a “spiritual battle,” in which the souls of children and of civilization are at stake. He says part of the problem lies in the removal of morality as the foundation of education.

“When students are being indoctrinated with ideologies that have nothing to do with living a good, moral life, it becomes very obvious to them at a very young age that there’s no such thing as God, that God isn’t real, that there’s no importance in living in accordance with the Christian faith or any sort of religion, simply because they know that it doesn’t advance them in any regard,” he said.

(L–R) Ali Ghaffari, executive director of the St. John Henry Newman Institute; Myles Vosylius, director of “The Great Indoctrination” documentary; and Paul List, the documentary’s executive producer, in an undated photo. Courtesy of Myles Vosylius

He says spirituality allows students to aim for something greater than themselves, or what he calls “the transcendentals,” through the pursuit of truth, goodness, beauty, and a virtuous life—ideals he says even an atheist is likely to aspire to for personal growth.

In his documentary, Vosylius describes a return to classical education as a potential solution to the problems facing Western education systems today. Classical education, with roots in ancient Greece and Rome, focuses on cultivating both wisdom and virtue through a holistic approach to learning.

Classical education “is a way of teaching, a way of being formed into the truth, because truth does exist and students learn about how to discover the truth for themselves,” Vosylius said.

“It isn’t some conservative, politically driven movement—it’s what education has always been about: creating independent thinkers [who can] discern what is right and wrong.”

He says he hopes the documentary, which took two years to produce, will inspire parents to take an active role in their children’s education.

“I think parents need to wake up and realize that they need to be the primary educators of their own children, that you cannot give the state permission to indoctrinate or to teach your children the way we are currently,” he said.