Most Teachers in London teach against patriotism - what do you think of that?

Question

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7220736.stm

>Three-quarters of the teachers felt they had an obligation to >alert their pupils to the dangers of patriotic sentiments.

>

>Only 9% of teachers thought schools should actively promote >patriotism.

Answer 1

...what are "your" thoughts?

Answer 2

Our children should be taught that it IS the winning and NOT the taking part that counts.

Answer 3

I am not patriotic at all! So think this is fine!

Answer 4

people should have their own views not be forced to like their country if they dont

Answer 5

Teachers in the USA have been trying to indoctrinate students into the leftist mindset for years now; I do not think it is working.

What they are doing is losing their own credibility.

Answer 6

An excellent and wise majority move! You just don;t want to risk having a creepy smart-alerk to try teach his/her Hitler or Mao or radical type of patriotism!  Students have to think for themselves, and not be brainwashed by false and dangerous patriotic sentiments,

Great Britain (before its change to the UK label) had always been historically proud that all its subjects called themselves British.... not British this or that. And that had for decades hekped prevent cultural conflicts, misunderstanding, and prejudice among its subjects. Sadly, they have become indoctrinated by our ugly system of supporting racial and religious categorizations to divide people.

Answer 7

Patriotism has never been tought in British schools to my knowledge.  I was born in 1941 - no one explained patriotism to me when I started school not while I was actually still at school.  When I went into the British Army in1957 at age 15, no one ever mentioned patriotism to me.

"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels"

- Dr Sam Johnson.

In the USA school children are tought patriotism - they salute the flag each morning in school and swear allegiance to the United States of America.

I have no plans to swear an oath of loyalty to something called the United Kingdom and I'm not sure that I care much for a flag dripping in blood, better known to some of my fellow Celts as the 'butcher's apron'.

Okay, so when I am dead and in my coffin, drape me with the Red Dragon of Wales - sing Land of My Fathers - then shove my coffin into the flames and go off down to the pub.

WALES FOREVER

Answer 8

Good.  Patriotism leads to hatred and wars.

Answer 9

Unfortunately patriotism is no longer appropriate.  We have such a diverse society now and the ethnic minorities will have split loyalties and there is little we can do to change it.  We should have thought of that before we opened our doors to them.

Answer 10

Teachers, they are what's wrong with the Country today.

Answer 11

true patriots are people that beleive in there country and care about there fellow man , where as alot mostly america have been made to beleive that patriotism is backing government in what ever they do eg if your against the iraq war your not a patriot .

as for our schools i beleive theyve become nothing more than indoctrination camps and a dumb down exercise ,being patriotic is made out to be some kind of bad thing .

Answer 12

I don't understand why you should have to be taught patriotism anyway. If you like your country you will automatically be patriotic. I guess people think it should be taught in schools because generally England has gone down the tubes and the only way people in future generations are going to be patriotic is if they are brainwashed to think that way.

Answer 13

There's two sides to 'patriotism' in the UK.

The first is being proud of who you are and where you come from, your heritage and history.

The second is being so unbearingly xenophobic in your opinion of anything 'foreign' and having the unshakeable belief that anything which isn't 'English or British' is of a lower standard or class and it's our inaliable right to belittle, ridicule and abuse the residents of ANY country we choose to go on holiday to.

I feel that, unfortunately, most of the 'patriots' in the UK are in the 2nd category and therefore that's why i don't agree with the notion of 'patriotism'. It was an accident of birth as to who you are and where you were born. I have blue eyes but i don't feel the need to shout from the rooftops...'I have blue eyes and i'm proud of it! i'll fight those brown and hazel eyed people because us blues are the best!!!!'

Being 'patriotic' is a device governments use to send millions of innocent people to their deaths in the wars that have been created by polititians and leaders since history began.

Answer 14

The dangers of blind jingoism should be obvious to anyone who has seen recent US history.

Answer 15

Could someone please tell me what is so wrong with being proud of the country you live in?  Is that not patriotism?  I don't see how that is even remotely an issue.

Now the bigger question here is if the teachers of England don't teach patriotism......then what do they teach their students about their own country?  They are teaching the kids the dangers of patriotic sentiment but what are the odds they are teaching the dangers of insertion of political propaganda in schools systems like what we saw in Vietnam, China, Russia, etc?  Anyone?

Fact of the matter is that education of our kids is such a big deal that it should be completely removed from the government (any government) and given back to the people itself.  Bring back neighborhood schools and let the communities deal with meeting government requirements (IE regulations but government stays the heck out of it)