Resolved: Patriotism should be taught to children in school.

Thank you for the definition of patriotism. 1) Pledge of Allegiance - This is something my opponent doesn't mind. Even if every other kind of "patriotism" currently being taught is bad and should be done away, this remains. The resolution doesn't state how much patriotism should be taught. Maybe not all forms of patriotism should be, but it's not asking the amount of patriotism being taught. If the pledge of allegiance is in schools then patriotism is taught. If the pledge of allegiance is good then patriotism should be taught. I really don't need to defend any other contention if this is a good thing, but I will do so in order to clear up some of my opponents arguments I perceive as misconceptions. 2) History with an emphasis on America - It's foolish to believe that politicians can push people around with their knowledge of past history. They push us around with the vast knowledge of the past 20 years. Politicians don't run campaigns based on how they'd change what Abraham Lincoln did over 100 years ago. History teaches us up to about the Cold War. Most history classes don't have events that have happened in the last 20 years in any kind of detail. Therefore what politicians run campaigns on and what the media talks about is not jaded by the emphasis of America in history classes. Americas involvement in the Philippines and in Latin America are usually jaded to make it seem that America was right. This teaches loyalty and helps deter any kind of uprising. It is not a reason as to why politicians push us around. The 9/11 case is vividly accurate. HOWEVER, not taught in school. Everything people think about that is from the media, not history class. I'm sure with time 9/11 will be taught in school, but also with time the stereotype will go away, probably not completely, but to an extent. During WWII most Americans thought every German was a NAZI. Do we think that anymore? We may joke around about it, but realistically we know that Germans aren't all Jew killing Nazis. Anyway, this is a case of the media portraying patriotism, not schools, so this example is really off topic considering the resolution. 3) A lot of shady things are hidden - I never really meant for this to aid my case. I just wanted to show that patriotism is part of status quo. I'm going to drop this. Patriotism should be taught in schools, but not like this. There are other ways in which patriotism should be taught. Civil War: You say that the Civil War was oversimplified then oversimplify it yourself. It was about a lot of things, including states rights. It's ignorant to say that it wasn't about morality. There were definitely people that passionately hated slavery and the treatment of fellow people. There were definitely people with other motives and it was a very complex war. Japanese: My opponent made a reference to this in 2. It belongs more so to this topic. After pearl harbor the Japs were forced to live in little camps and that is often hidden in history classes. Overall I don't like that America does this and it definitely shouldn't be done. There are other ways to teach patriotism, such as the pledge of allegiance. 4) Patriotism prevents rebellions - I stated that patriotism suppresses rebellions, not wars with other countries. Furthermore, there are a lot of "ifs" in the quote. Just because patriotism is taught, does not mean people don't have a brain. Yes, taking over the world would benefit a country, but is it realistic? People have a brain and compassion for other people. If a country does go to war, then patriotism supports that war, but people do not start wars as a result of patriotism. Wars cost lives and money, which isn't a good thing for a nation. Patriotism doesn't teach war. Even so the USA has no need to attack another country. Mexico and Canada are the only countries that are feasible to attack and there's no need for that. Also if people are prideful in their nation, it can create competition that is good for each nation. Take example Russia and USA. The race to space was about pride in ones country and led to great development. In the end patriotism leads to pride in your nation and less anti-government uprisings. Empires crumble from within. Patriotism keeps this from happening.