patriotisms should be taught in schools

On to round two then. :) "...i should not have assumed you were from America. I guess sometimes i forget the internet is accessible to anyone anywhere..." My opponent has unwittingly shown the sense of nationalistic egocentricity common to America; the inconsideration outside its own domain. That is an artefact of patriotism, the elevated regard of its own self. A simple mistake sure, but it does show rather neatly one of the negatives of patriotism. "I was not trying to say that America is the only country with a stable government and economy, I was simply trying to point out the fact that America, like many other countries America has many accomplishments to be proud of." This highlights one of the issues with "teaching" patriotism. It is by necessity a biased interpretation or presentation of events. To teach, even in this regard a sense of nationalistic pride in the accomplishment of a settled government, one would extol a virtue that is not unique, an accomplishment that is common place. Pride in the common? Unlikely; what happens in reality is you raise an artefact of your own culture (government in this case) above its place in the international arena. You attribute accomplishment where there really is none; you give exceeding value where it is not due. To instil any patriotic sense, one would concentrate overly on one's own domestic arena to the detriment of an education at a global level. "My opponent points out that Patriotism promotes a narrow-minded view of a nations history. however accrding tohttp://www.ezinearticles.com...... " Children need to feel a sense of belonging too, in their family, their classrooms and in their country. They will thrive in an environment of respect, compassion and stability. If we as parents teach our kids to love, honor, show compassion and respect for their country as well as for their fellow man, they will not only be graced by a sense of patriotism, they will become better citizens, and in turn role models for our future generations." We will ignore your source is a biased pro patriotism .com website. Naturally it will say things in favour of it. Its bias however is unimportant here. For your future educational reference though, one would hope at age 16 you have access to more reputable sources; any unbiased source strengthens your own argument, no matter what it is you are writing about. Firstly, you haven't addressed the biased teaching that is necessary to instil patriotism. Remember the debate is "Patriotism should be taught in schools". If patriotism is a natural progression through self discourse with unbiased facts and reasoning, then great, that's fine. However to "teach" patriotism is entirely different. To instil national pride, the nation must be praised, to create a patriotic environment; patriotism must be an ideal to attain. This ‘educational aim' is then by necessity a biased presentation with the goal for the state of patriotism in students. Children should be allowed to have neutrality in education; that should be the ideal, not patriotism. Then they will become better citizens, better role models. Why? Simply because America is not an isolated country; we exist in a global age. Education is, in part, about preparing students for their futures, patriotic education is in detriment to that. Teach the history unbiased, facts unbiased, fair distribution of educational goals with a global frame of mind. "If we as parents teach our kids to love, honor, show compassion and respect for their country as well as for their fellow man." Schools remember. We are debating patriotism taught in schools, not the home. "There is nothing better then children feeling a strong sense of belonging. Also I am not saying that patriotism should teach that our country is better then any other, all countries have problems there is no way to deny that." "There is nothing better then children feeling a strong sense of belonging" You have committed two fallacies here: Appeal to Emotion: 1.Favorable emotions are associated with X. 2.Therefore, X is true. Appeal to Popularity: 1.Most people approve of X. 2.So, I should approve of X, too. 3.Since I approve of X, X must be true. What you fail to realise that to teach patriotism, it necessitates bias. What you are basically saying is, teach unbiased and patriotism will be taught. That is not the case, either you teach unbiased and let the individual reason to their patriotism (or not as the case may be) or you teach with the aim of patriotism. You can not have it as both. If you favour non biased education you must explain then how that you are "teaching" patriotism; simply inferring it is not enough. You are defending the teaching of patriotism. "I do not think this debate is about how patriotism should be taught. I am not saying that children should be forced or lied to in order to get them to feel a sense of pride. Also patriotism is not meant to put other countries down rather to celebrate the way your country does things and look at other countries differences and celebrate that as well." Actually this debate is exactly how patriotism should be taught. You can not merely say we should teach in a non patriotic way thus teaching patriotism. I never mentioned lying to children (another fallacy), the term was biased, an unreasonable favouring of one view over another, of one interpretation over another, of one set of facts over another. Patriotism is exactly placing one's own countries values/experience/people etc. at a higher level than another's. While this may seem fine, this does by necessity mean that another country (and its people) are seen as "less than" or inferior. This is a well documented effect. It happens in any group of like minded individuals. The group sees themself as having different (positive) qualities to those outside of a group (negative). To use a rather base (and please just take it for the example it is) patriotic sensibilities are what leads in part to genocidal acts; in group solidarity versus out group degradation. It happens on all levels, to all types of group formation. Patriotism creates in group solidarity and by effect that means that out groups are seen as inferior. Why should I support that ideal? Barrett. M., Wilson. H., & Lyons. E. (2003). The development of national in-group bias: English children's attributions of characteristics to English, American and German people. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 21(2), 193-220. Smith, E., Mackie. D. (2003) Social Psychology (3rd e.d.) Psychology Press: Philadelphia. Verkuyten. M. (2003). Ethnic in-group bias among minority and majority early adolescents: The perception of negative peer behaviour. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 21(4), 543-564.