New study: Patriotism lessons could be introduced to foster nation pride but teachers think it could exclude non-British pupils
Posted on 02/01/2008 4:32:34 AM PST by Stoat
New study: Patriotism lessons could be introduced to foster nation pride but teachers think it could exclude non-British pupils
Nearly 90 per cent opposed plans for history and citizenship lessons aimed at fostering national identity and pride.
One of the 47 London teachers questioned said the lessons might encourage "BNP-"type thinking". Another said the idea "reeked of the old British empire".
In a report based on its findings, the Institute of Education said Britain's "morally ambiguous" history suggested patriotism should be covered as a "controversial issue" only.
The Left-leaning institute polled 47 teachers and 299 students at secondary schools in the capital.
Three-quarters of the staff said they felt obliged to alert their pupils to the dangers of patriotic sentiments.
"Praising patriotism excludes non-British pupils," said one.
"Patriotism about being British in my experience tends to be a white preserve so divides groups along racial lines, when what we aim to do is bring pupils to an understanding of what makes us all the same."
Another said: "It can be quite divisive. There is a propensity for that sort of BNP-type thinking to come through."
A third said: "Left to my own devices I wouldn't dream of covering it really, explicitly. To me it sort of reeks of the old British empire."
Despite these remarks, more than half the teachers and students in the survey agreed that it was a good thing for citizens to be patriotic.
Michael Hand, the report's author, said: "Gordon Brown and David Cameron have both called for a history curriculum that fosters attachment and loyalty to Britain.
"But the case for promoting patriotism in schools is weak.
"Patriotism is love of one's country, but are countries really appropriate objects of love? Loving things can be bad for us, for example when the things we love are morally corrupt.
"Since all national histories are at best morally ambiguous, it's an open question whether citizens should love their countries."
Revamped citizenship lessons being introduced later this year will require secondary pupils to learn about British values such as tolerance and free speech.
They will have to study national identity "through the prism of history", including the legacy of empire.
There was an outcry last year when Winston Churchill was dropped from a list of figures which needed to be covered in history, although the Second World War remains compulsory.
Chris McGovern, director of the History Curriculum Association pressure group, said: "We are actually causing children to be unpatriotic by skewing the curriculum towards making children feel guilty about their history."
He added that lessons on the industrial revolution, for example, focused on child labour and dire conditions in factories at the expense of an appreciation of the era's achievements.
Ofsted warned last year that schools were failing to do enough to give pupils a proper understanding of British values and history.
The education watchdog claimed such lessons could help youngsters grasp the country's common values as well as appreciate its diverse cultures.
Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "There is nothing wrong with being patriotic and proud of being British.
"We firmly believe that in today's diverse society all children should learn about events and themes which have shaped this country.
"At the same time it is important that children learn tolerance, respect and understanding of other cultures and countries.
"We see no contradiction between the two."
ping
This tells a lot about the quality of the 'study'. Left-leaning institute, poll, teachers, students, capital. Each of those could be a huge source of errors.
Child abuse can assume many forms... here’s another.
This tells a lot about the quality of the 'study'. Left-leaning institute, poll, teachers, students, capital. Each of those could be a huge source of errors.
Indeed, but the results are entirely in line with what I've come to expect from the Left and from academia. No grand surprises at all, at least for me.
Well-stated, superbly implemented, thank you :-)
It would seem extraordinarily difficult to me to teach very much about the Second World War without some amount of reference to Winston Churchill.
Yes, figurative carpet knives in the hands of teachers.
HF
You forgot the steam engine that brought the Industrial Revolution
Britain can start now by firing every last leftist teacher in their schools. I suppose that, just like in the States, it would be illegal. But I'd love to see it done...here and there.
It would seem extraordinarily difficult to me to teach very much about the Second World War without some amount of reference to Winston Churchill.
Sort of like teaching about subjects such as astronomy and our solar system without making reference to the Sun, eh?
Sir Winston as well as anyone who scored victories against the Left are not held in high esteem in academia.
Churchill dropped from England's history syllabus ( pandering to a P.C. agenda)
Great Britain Fury at Churchill statue (Former PM and beloved hero is in a straightjacket)
This is what the educrats consider to be their real reason for being. Reading, writing, etc. are secondary. THIS is what is wrong with education today. It may not be the only thing wrong, but dump this crap, and you will have gone a long way to fixing what ails our education process.
Patriotism does not need to be “taught” in the US. Instead, students should be given a good grounding in the Constituion and patriotism will be a natural biproduct.
Ostensibly, the "non-British pupils" came to Britain for a reason.
Ostensibly, the "non-British pupils" came to Britain for a reason.
There was a time, not so very long ago, when immigrants coming to the UK or the USA looking for work and a better life were also expected to learn the history and traditions of their new home and to immerse themselves in the 'melting pot' ....not in an effort to eradicate their own country's traditions from their lives entirely as the Left would have us believe, but to help them to fit in with the rest of America or the UK and to allow them to be successful....so that they wouldn't be outsiders.
Although our own citizenship test here in the USA is one that many native-born Americans would find challenging (an indictment of our public school system, not of people's patriotism) the Left continues to chip away at such knowledge and cultural requirements on both sides of the Pond. They would like nothing more than for there to be open borders and numerous ghetto enclaves of divergent cultures and languages....because the only way to administer and govern such a "country" would be via a heavy-handed, tyrannical and breathtakingly oppressive Socialist government.
Babel represents the pinnacle achievement of The Socialist Miracle.
Romans 10:3 says this:
For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.Paul was talking of his own nation there, but modern leftists are in the same situation. The difference is that first-century Jews believed in the Bible (the Tanakh), while modern leftists have no such reference; they pretty much follow the herd. The similarity is that it's all about establishing "righteousness".
We often notice that leftists want to "feel good" about themselves. What makes them feel good is this idea that "I'm better than ___." It's a sort of righteousness which develops from running others down, a predatory or fungal process rather than a constructive one. The "good, righteous" feeling develops in direct proportion to the respectability and inherent virtue of the target. Meaning, for instance, that running down America or Britain gives mucho points, more than could be had by talking about Rwanda or the Sudan.
They also get extra points for following, and in exceptional cases, leading the herd in directions contrary to reason. And there is a special bonus given for direct contradiction to the bourgeois morality of the unwashed masses (that's us!) which derives partly from some ancient book which (leftists believe that) nobody really believes.
To leftists, the herd is the thing. And the herd, as we have seen, can turn on a dime. Today's bedrock truth is tomorrow's lie. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
“You forgot the steam engine that brought the Industrial Revolution”
That certainly should be included in the list since we are discussing Great Britain rather than just England. The steam engine led to the “horseless carriage”, which became the automobile. The horse was abandoned and Western city streets almost immediately ceased being filthy strips of mud, standing water and horse manure. Outbreaks of cholera and other water and insect bourne pestilences came to halt as a result.
Of course the socialist libs would view the steam engine as a great evil because it led to industrialization and technological advances. Somehow boulevards not filled with manure was a societal setback to them.
I will miss them, and will speak fondly of them to my grandchildren.
This is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son (sun) of York.
LOL, at thinking how my kids would respond to that...Mom's Hispanic with a tinge of Mescalero Apache, and I'm of good Scot/German stock.
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