​A real patriotic education rejects blind nationalism

I wrote this Op-Ed with  Chris Dier, Takeru "TK" Nagayoshi, Cecilia Chung, & Lynette Stant
It appeared in print in Ed. Week this week but is also available online. 

In a somber back-to-school season gripped by the pandemic, President Trump announced a commission to promote a “patriotic education.” He promotes a bleak picture of our nation’s classrooms, a radical wasteland where “left-wing” teachers indoctrinate children to “hate America” for acknowledging the legacy of slavery and racism.

We, as educators, are deeply troubled by this.

A “patriotic education” is one where we embrace and value all students’ worth and dignity while creating spaces for them to confront the realities of our country, past and present, to build a better tomorrow. Holding the victories, struggles, accomplishments, and missteps close while promising to fight together for a nation “of the people, by the people, for the people.”

This is Patriotism; this is American.   

As some of our nation's teachers of the year, we know the exact opposite of the President's accusations to be true. This is what teachers worth their salt actually do: 

We don’t teach students to hate our country. We question what it means to help students navigate sensitive life topics, from pandemic to protest. Above all, we question how to teach with truth in our toxic political climate, one that increasingly assails our craft, especially on matters of science and history, as unpatriotic, dogmatic, and biased. 

We teach our kids to embrace truth, not by ignoring the ghosts of our country’s past, but by letting them guide us, not haunt us. We confront the uglier legacies of our history - those forced to silence and slaughter, from slavery to segregation to genocide, and how marginalized groups survived and thrived to carve their identity into what it means to be “American.” We do not shy away from it or whitewash it because doing so locks us into the status quo, unable to move on and learn from our past mistakes, and robs students of truth. 

We embrace all perspectives in our analysis - not just the white ones carved in mountains or immortalized by statues. 

We honor the powerful voices that have too long existed in the margins of our textbooks. Beyond acknowledgement, we mourn their suffering, empathize with their struggle, and celebrate their joy. When envisioning an equitable future, we center their wisdom to light us through darker times.

We empower our students with the tools to protect and improve upon the world they'll inherit. We implore them to question the actions of our country and to speak up against injustice, not because we're unpatriotic but because "dissent is the highest form of patriotism." 

We teach our kids to love our country but avoid blind nationalism that renders us too weak, too unwilling, or too incapable to envision the charge of progress. 

Above all, we create spaces of unity where all students are allowed to love themselves and their fellow humans. We commit to this not only because the powers that be work to dehumanize and divide us, but also because we realize that our solutions are found through, not in spite of each other. 

As teachers, we owe our children to persist with truth, no matter how inconvenient. We must help them develop the ability to interrogate, embrace, and learn to problem-solve within the confines of truth, warts and all. Only then can they architect solutions to our most pressing collective problems, be they the next pandemic, global inequality, or climate change. The future of our nation, and our world, depend on students to develop solutions.

So this fall, virtual and otherwise, you could bet we'll be unpacking hard truths with our students, from how vulnerable populations bear the brunt of COVID-19 to how George Floyd protests echo unsolved pains of our nation’s racist past. Because that’s what patriotic teachers do to inspire resilience and determination.
We're navigating an uncertain time--one where our relationship with facts is circumspect; where to confront the realities of our past and present is censured by some as dangerously “anti-American;” where those in power opt to mask inconvenient truths with whitewashed varnish.

As practitioners of truth and evidence and ongoing growth, we teachers have an obligation to let these truths be heard and felt. We are not perfect. As the old adage goes, those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it. As educators, we have the power to mold compassionate, tolerant, and empowered students to positively impact communities across the country. We do this better with the support of our country’s most powerful leaders.

We, as teachers, do this because we owe this to our students, and to our nation. 

It was truly an honor to weave this statement of belief and chart a path forward with my 2020TOY Cohort think partners and friends:

Chris Dier, the 2020 Louisiana Teacher of the Year, is the author of The 1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre: Blood in the Cane Fields and a U.S. history teacher in New Orleans. Takeru "TK" Nagayoshi, the 2020 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, teaches high school English and research in New Bedford. Erin McCarthy, the 2020 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, teaches 8th grade social studies in Greendale. Cecilia Chung, the 2020 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year, teaches 6th grade English/language arts and social studies on Oahu. Lynette Stant, a 3rd grade teacher from the Dine' Nation, is the 2020 Arizona Teacher of the Year. She teaches on the Salt River Indian Reservation in Scottsdale.