Verses written by Vietnam veterans from "Winning Hearts and Minds" are discussed in terms of two thematic categories: that which smashes the hypocrisy and myths of America and its patriotism, and that which documents and records the veteran's experience. This accessible, immediate poetic documentation of the Vietnam experience merits…

Presents the story of the Star-Spangled Banner, explaining that Francis Scott Key's poem is not mere patriotic rhetoric, but is rooted in an important moment in U.S. history and in the joy that Key felt when the dawn revealed the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry following the destruction of Washington, D.C. and attack on Baltimore. (SM)

Four years after the 9/11 attack on the United States, the country continues to be in considerable turmoil. Children have lived through the devastation of the September 11th attacks, the panic over the anthrax mailings, the hunt for terrorists in Afghanistan, elevated homeland security threat levels, the war in Iraq, the tsunami disaster, and…

The resurgency of patriotism in America is described. Citizenship is dealt with as a historical construction and from various ideological perspectives. Ideologies underlying citizenship education in the schools, in movies, and in television are investigated. Important theoretical considerations for a critical theory of citizenship education are…

Presents the author's reflections on the importance of the United States Constitution and on the Constitution Bicentennial as an opportunity to stimulate public awareness and appreciation for the Constitution. (MCG)

Presents excerpts from the speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln (e.g., various speeches that addressed slavery, a speech on democracy as a universal ideal, and the Gettysburg Address) to show how he evoked a vision of a United States that has inspired, shaped, and defined the country ever since. (SM)

Asserts that, post 9-11, responsibility to critical thought complicates simple-minded notions of loyalty and patriotism, and that "classics" of Western thought persist as touchstones of self-reflection and reason. (EV)

Through an exploration of deliberative forums during the Great Depression, this article considers how Americans have turned to civic education in times of national crisis. The 1930s were a deeply threatening time for democracy, and the forum movement sought to counter revolutionary rhetoric and action with a vision of citizenship based on…

Background: Cosmopolitans and their critics often imagine a spectrum of affinities--concentric circles of belonging reaching from the self and family to the ethnic group, the nation and, finally, to all humanity. Debates over the role schools should play in educating "world citizens" versus national patriots follow suit: Should educators work to…

In this article, the author reflects on the events that took place in the year 1972. The author was a junior at the University of New Mexico back then, refusing to eat or buy grapes and lettuce, picketing grocers who did not carry United Farm Workers of America produce. He and his buddies cast their votes against granting Richard Nixon a second…

Over three decades of teaching, the author has come to a deep understanding of the commitment she made in swearing her loyalty to a governing system dedicated to the virtues of democracy and equality for all--both those within the diverse society and those across a global mosaic of cultures. Every day in the classroom, teachers and students alike…

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has recently issued the Action Plan for the Development of Civic Morality. It is a profound exposition on the importance of the development of civic morality and its guiding ideology and policy principles. It puts forward the basic moral standards of patriotism, respect for the law,…

In this article, the author hopes to address the challenge of patriotism in this current age. She wants to challenge those who are patriotic enough to criticize common discourses about the nation and national policies to work on recapturing the language so that real debate is not only possible but valued. She makes her argument in a time when this…

From their first recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, students are taught that the most important unit of social analysis is the nation-state and that people on this side of the border constitute "us," whereas those on the other side of the line are "them." By the time students enter a global studies class as high school…

In Leslie Marmon Silko's 1977 novel "Ceremony" the "primacy of the geographical" has often been interpreted as a particularly holistic and healing sense of place--what the critic Robert M. Nelson has characterized as the "spirit of place." This heightened awareness of the spiritual and redemptive power of the natural and the imaginative in…