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Where do we go from here?
Rethinking the Way We Teach Patriotism in an Age of Division
the real world truly works? Clearly, no amount of education can prepare students for a threat to their society, but now after the fact, that’s not what is at stake for educators. In a time where clarity of the future is in constant parity, educators now have a duty to reevaluate what society even means for students.
The truth is no matter how much we have used the real world as a method of instilling intrinsic motivation, we never had an idea of what the real world looks like. When we consider education as a method of preparation for the real world, we ought to be more considerate of the types By Anthony Joseph Francisco Pascual of social realities students should be prepared for. This educational mindset is what propels the supposed necessity of civic responsibility in social studies. To teach Introduction civic responsibility is to ultimately prepare students for Division is more than mere fragments within a country or their duties as citizens. While there is nothing community. We do not want to confuse preinherently wrong with this goal, there’s also a existing cracks within a society’s lack of universal design that exists in the foundation as division —where American context of civic responsibility questioning the historically —where patriotism is the essential damaging tenets of a country is feature of citizenship. The current “We want every student to necessary to, in fact, sew a state of how civic duty is taught society’s inherent flaws. Division be able to actualize being a lacks the proper depth for citizens is more usefully thought of as a to take responsibility in ensuring part of the community, and barrier in proceeding any further long term success for the country. as a functioning unit. One may their ability to bring their The focus here will mainly be on argue that this cohesion has cultural lens to connect to the idea of patriotism and how it never been the case in the United is achieved as a result of their community gets them States but for many, heightened pedagogy. In discussing how political tensions from varying there.” educators feel patriotism can be political factions has prevented molded in a way that makes for effective people from moving forward. Whether learning results, I will go through the this division is merely a case of the country’s strengths and weaknesses of this approach, before bandaging of historical conflict catching up to itself moving into broader research on how citizenship can be or there is a legitimate reason to worry about the state of comprehensively understood beyond American the country’s union, the pragmatic question for educators patriotism. Through describing how civic responsibility —whose intent is to invest in how future minds participate can be more broadly applied in the classroom, I conclude in the world— is figuring out how to move forward. with what I believe to be the most effective and culturally American public education even through its muddied malleable result that can come from social studies history on who it has most effectively served is meant to pedagogy as a method of preparation. The goal of be preparatory. For educators, this has often meant explicitly teaching civic responsibility in social studies is leveraging to students the real world. But when the unnecessary and counterintuitive to a more country stopped to watch its capitol building be stormed comprehensive responsibility of students practicing social on January 6, 2021, what exactly does this indicate to how studies in a way that enables and progresses their
Curriculum in Context ▪ Spring/Summer 2021
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