conuly

"How do you define patriotism?"

Well, that's the title, but the actual question is the more prosaic "How do you teach patriotism?" instead.

The only answer to that question so far runs like this:

As for me, I don't teach about patriotism on July 4th...I teach it every day of the year. In my preschool classrooms we say the pledge of allegiance every day, we sing and play patriotic music weekly if not daily, and we talk about this great country and it's leaders (both past and present). Do they get it all? No, but it build a great foundation.

Which is all well and good, I guess, but my very first, second, and third thoughts after reading this went more along the lines of "I guess every day is indoctrination day over in Poky Oaks Preschool!"

Not very nice of me, and you'll notice I haven't replied.

Still, I do feel that. Or, at least, I find her answer of how she defines patriotism (even if she doesn't say so explicitly) to be a little disturbing - it's thinking that this country is great and the leaders (past and present) are great... and that's it.

She doesn't say she teaches what liberty, equality, and justice are (and though those are big words for small kids, and big concepts, there's definitely no wrong time to start teaching them!); and she doesn't say she teaches them about their most basic rights (the third amendment might go right over their heads, but the first is crucial); and she doesn't say she works to teach them about people who went *against* the status quo to make this country better (except of course for our past leaders, some of whom were stunningly unpatriotic in their *original* country of Britain (England? I'm never very clear on that)!); and while she does probably strive to instill the virtues of good citizenship in them she probably doesn't consider that part of patriotism, or she would've said so.

And of course there's the forced recitation of a loyalty oath every day, aka the Pledge of Allegiance. A simple enough oath in such language that it's close to impossible for them to understand, and she doesn't indicate that she even teaches what it means.

(Let me go on record as saying that I am firmly opposed to asking small children to make promises that they don't understand, especially when adults are not required to continually make the same promise. I don't care how benign you think the promise is, it's just not right.)

Her view of teaching patriotism and mine are so far apart... I don't know. I just don't know. She's not wrong (I do admit that, snide comments aside), I just don't think she's right. By limiting her view on patriotism she's really short-changing herself and her students.