Should Patriotism Be Taught In Our Schools?

By Scott Swain

Let’s ask it this way, why should a state or federally sponsored school teach love of country?
First, we can begin by learning the meaning of patriotism. In 1828 Noah Webster defined
patriotism in his first dictionary as:

…the passion which aims to serve one’s country, either in defending it from invasion or
protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institutions in vigor and purity.
Patriotism is the characteristic of a good citizen, the noblest passion that animates a man
in the character of a citizen (Webster, 1828).

Patriotism must be one of the fundamental cornerstones in educational curriculum. In order to
love something, one must learn of it. Education precedes emotion; ignorance precedes apathy. If
we are to begin climbing out of the quagmire of ignorance that we have unwittingly put
ourselves in, then we had better start teaching American history and civics like we used to teach
them in America. And what was taught in our recent past?

The McGuffey Readers were the most used schoolbook in the 19 th century. They were considered
remarkable literary works and probably exerted a greater influence upon literary tastes in the
United States than any other book, excluding the Bible. Concerning how we should venerate our
founding fathers, the McGuffey Sixth Reader states:

The memory of our fathers should be the watchword of liberty throughout the land; for,
imperfect as they were, the world before had not seen their like, nor will it soon, we fear,
behold their like again. Such models of moral excellence, such apostles of civil and
religious liberty, such shades of the illustrious dead looking down upon their descendents
with approbation or reproof, according as they follow or depart from the good way,
constitute a censorship inferior only to the eye of God; and to ridicule them is national
suicide (p. 128).

In fact, our public schools must be the first place that patriotism is taught. And patriotism
includes the love of our founding fathers and founding documents. The people and things upon
which our nation was created.

Another sample of this same patriotism is found in an 1897 Los Angeles Times article entitled,
Teach Patriotism in the Public Schools. Here is what it says:

There is certainly much pure patriotism in this country, but is there not room for much
more?…The cornerstone of our republic is the public school, and in it should be taught
the principles of government, the truths of political economy and the fundamental facts in
the history of our country. If we would have our people loyal and patriotic we must teach
our children to be so. William von Humboldt, first Minister of Public Instruction in
Prussia, said: “Whatever we wish to see incorporated into the life of the nation must be
first introduced into its schools.” Let us hasten the day when American public schools
shall be educators in pure patriotism.

Should not then the public school be the haven for literary works such as Alexis
De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense? Would not books
such as McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers be such a boon to our national consciousness? America
needs a reawakening, and much like the revivalists’ song, entitled Give Me Some Old Time
Religion, America needs to get some Old Time Patriotism!

References

McGuffey, W.H. (1885). McGuffey’s Sixth Eclectic Reader. Ohio: Truman and Smith
Publishing Webster, N. (1828). American Dictionary of the English Language. Republished in
Facsimile Edition by Foundation for American Christian Education. 1995. Scott Swain is the President of the Roots of Freedom Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. Roots of Freedom and the Roots of Freedom Foundation educates and inspires youth, families, and all citizens to understand, respect, and preserve for future generations the values, freedoms, and ideals established by the Founding Fathers and fundamental documents of the United States of America.

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