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Civic virtue out of necessity

Patriotism and democratic education

Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Should patriotism be considered a legitimate part of schooling in a democracy? This question has been contested in the scholarly literature as well as by policy-makers for decades.Terrorism and conflict exacerbate this debate by adding a sense of urgency to both the demand to love thy country and the concern for individual freedom. In this article I suggest that the social circumstances of conflict substantiate the claim for teaching patriotism in schools, while maintaining a strong commitment to their democratic educational mission.While patriotism should be regarded as a civic rather than a moral virtue, its contribution to solidarity and to endurance in wartime warrants the attention of educators, scholars and education policy-makers. The implementation of patriotic teaching should thus be incorporated into the broader democratic vision which public schools should endorse and with which they should engage the next generation of citizens.

Key Words: civic education • civic virtue • democratic education • patriotism

Theory and Research in Education, Vol. 5, No. 1, 41-59 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1477878507073608


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