I laughed and cried when I saw this on JoanneJacobs.com. Be sure to read the original column from the Richmond Times-Dispatch for the sad truth to this story.

Graduates from Richmond's Binford Middle School get a diplomalike certificate, signed by the teacher and principal.

It is ringed by six graphic marks, including icons of a notebook, an apple, the school mascot and such.

Then there is a picture of a man. And who is this icon of American education?

Not John Dewey or Horace Mann, both of whom were called fathers of American education.

It's not Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin or George Washington, either.

Nor is it even James H. Binford, the first superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, for whom the school was named when it opened in 1915.

This picture looks a little like Albert Einstein, perhaps. Or maybe Frederick Douglass.

Or the Smith Brothers cough syrup guy. . . .

Wait a minute. . . .

It's Karl Marx!

Not exactly the father of education. This is the father of socialism. The father of communism.

Author of "The Communist Manifesto."

Yep, that's right. This school has Karl Marx's image on their diploma. While it shouldn't be a big surprise in our world of Che Guevara T-shirts and Red China star emblazoned hand-bags that Karl would be popular in schools, apparently this case wasn't actually intentional.

Binford Principal Juanita Nicholson said yesterday that she had not known the photo was of Marx or the reason for its use.

She agreed it was an odd choice.

Nicholson said one of the teachers on a committee apparently had done it. "I'm not sure . . . she even knew who it was."

Turns out she didn't.

Richmond schools spokeswoman Felicia Cosby called last night to explain:

"She really thought she was capturing clip art representing Frederick Douglass. She did a search to pull up Frederick Douglass and this is what came up . . . with the beard and the hair."

I may not be a history major, but I'd like to think I could tell the difference between Karl Marx and Frederick Douglass. Let's see what you think. Here are two pictures. Can you guess which one is which?

If you guessed that the first image is Frederick Douglass, you're right. If you guessed the second one, then you're just as good at history as the teachers at Binford Middle School.