Young Patriots or Junior Historians? An Epistemological Defense of Critical Patriotic Education

Abstract

The example of Rorty is notable here because it emerges from a position on the political left, but the claim that American patriotism is embattled is a familiar one. Likewise, we are familiar with the claim that American education is somehow to blame for this situation or at the very least has not done enough to ameliorate it. On the other hand, we are equally familiar with contrary claims: that American patriotism — or jingoism, or unilateralism, or some other related political phenomenon — is too prominent in the cultural landscape, and that education ought to moderate if not indeed undermine patriotic sentiments, in favor of cosmopolitanism or at least a more rational and principled liberalism. What are we to make of this debate? More specifically, in the field of history — where much of the debate is waged — is it reasonable to uphold patriotism as an educational goal?