Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Patriotic/Unpatriotic Facts After teaching middle school Social Studies for many years, I decided to go back to school to get my graduate degree. In one of my classes, we studied James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me. I was so influenced by this book and the idea that we have been presenting students inaccurate information that I have been thoroughly researching the content I teach before presenting it to my students. Recently we have been studying international affairs of the US government. Some of the information I presented revealed actions the US government engaged in other countries that resulted in killings and disturbances. My students were interested in the materials and some of the issues we discussed in class made dinner-time discussions at home. One of the parents who is a retired army officer came to the school to talk to my principal. He told the principal that I was indoctrinating students. When my principal told me about this, I explained to her that all the information I presented was factual and that I researched the information from multiple resources. Her suggestion to me was that I should focus more on teaching patriotic materials. I am so frustrated that I do not have the support of my principal. Also, I disagree that what I teach is unpatriotic. I am simply trying to teach accurate information. If I continue doing what I do, I may lose my job. However, I do not want to give up teaching my students the truth. How should I go about this issue? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) It is very admirable that you take the time to thoroughly research things before you teach them. Your students are lucky to have a teacher that is trying to encourage them to think beyond the text book. Your middle school students are old enough to realize that no country and no country's leaders are perfect. Bad things happen in war and tough decisions must be made all of the time. On the other hand, once the information is passed from you to the student, to the student to the parent, and the parent back to the principal, I can see how differences of opinions can occur. Maybe you should try to balance your lessons with "truths" and "patriotic ideals". For example in order to end WWII, many people had to die in the bombings of Japan. You present this and talk about both sides of the issue. Why was the decision seen as good? Why was the decision seen as bad? Another example would be the Spanish American War. Patriotism is always a matter of degree. What is truth to you may come off as unpatriotic to me or to someone whose uncle, child, father, or brother died protecting this country. It does not mean that you are wrong. It just means that we are each approaching "love of country" from a different point of view. Be truthful, but also be sensitive and balanced in your approach.