Loyalty & Patriotism in Schools?

Last October, Education Next published an article sharing conclusions and data from their recent polls & research. They asked whether or not teachers and schools were to blame for the general mistrust of Americans toward the US government and/or our dissatisfaction with the state of the nation. They stated that, "President Trump, during remarks delivered on the eve of the Fourth of July in 2020, stated that “our children are taught in school to hate their own country, and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but villains.” It's a way to twist voices, truth, and data. 

Their research found that contrary to what our nation's leadership wants you to believe, most teachers actually think we should be teaching that America is a good place and that civics education should be generally positive about US history and foundational documents. One of the charts was especially revealing and it's where we want to pause. Look below: 

If you notice, half of all teachers aged 18- 55+ believe that we should be teaching students to both be loyal and patriotic to the United States. This, to us, is problematic. How does a person teach loyalty? More importantly, how does one teach loyalty to a nation that consistently, historically, and frequently mistreats it's own people? How can we be loyal in a moment like this one, where this administration is quite literally citing Nazi slogans? 

Instead, we offer that teachers should be less concerned about patriotism and loyalty, and way more concerned about truth. Teach about and for truth, allowing students to determine their own futures, understand their histories, and make important decisions with historical context. We also see this particular piece of data as revelatory of what's underneath all the "misbehavior" dynamics in schools today. This value for loyalty often translates into control and the practice of body management. It goes against the values of many of our students of color (specifically) and can easily cause mistrust and distance between students and teachers. In a time where loyalty to this government equals betrayal of your (proverbial) neighbor, a focus on patriotism equals racist. Racism has never been conducive to harmony or relationship. 

This and other pieces of info from this article remind us there is so much work to do in our field of education. There is so much to unpack with educators and so much to build. 

Article: Kisida, B., Ritter, C. G., Shuls, J. V., and Ritter, G. (2025). “Should Schools Teach That America Is Good? Polling finds that teachers, more than the general public, believe schools should.” Education Next, 25(4), 28 October 2025.

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