Is Patriotic Education necessary?

Is Patriotic Education necessary?NameInstitution
Is Patriotic Education necessary?
Is it common for children to be linked more to their country of residence than their ancestral land? Regardless of division in arguments, children become citizens of residence countries, develop prospects of earning a living, raising a family, and later on, participate in a myriad of democratic processes like voting. Nevertheless, educators and proponents of patriotic studies claim and believe that learners need to be taught about their ancestral culture because a positive relationship between them and their ancestral culture positively influences their self-esteem (Ravitch, 2006). However, how necessary is it to teach a child born in a foreign country, to be proud of his/her ancestral land instead of his/her country of residence (one that he/she has known to be his/her home,)? It is possible that many people migrated from their ancestral lands because they wanted to flee from tyrannical regimes or dire poverty, and they found refuge in the country of residence. Consequently, it is strange on how teaching students and associating them with these kinds of settings is expected to build students’ self-esteem no matter how positive the relationship can be.
Although majority of state schools in many nations of the world teach students to respect their countries with the aim of building a strong and vibrant national community, irrespective of diversities in ethnic origins, other nations like the United states have embraced the spirit of patriotism and allowed teaching students their respective ancestral cultures (Lauterbach, 2005). Unlike other nations whose ties are attributed to religion and blood, the U.S’s ties are as attributed to shared obedience to the democratic ideology, implanted in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence (Ravitch, 2006). This essay will seek to oppose the argument that patriotic education is necessary because students need not to only love the commitments and accomplishments of men and women who have sacrificed their lives to earn them freedom and better lives but they also deserve to know the failures of their countries and also appreciate the virtues and cultures of other nations. According to Lauterbach (2005) patriotism is the love one has for his/her country. Hence patriotic education deals with teaching students what is likely to promote love for the countries.
Education is a tool used in preparing children and young adults to be responsible citizens (Elias, 2005). Nevertheless, good citizenry and accruing of other virtues of life is not attributed as an achievement of patriotic education alone, implying that patriotism should not be thought as distinct subject. This means that in a school setup, specific time should not be set to tech instructions on patriotism. Instead, students should possess highly solid civic education to study the institutions and ideas of the Founders of the nation(s) (B...