Teach Reflective Patriotism in Schools

Make 'reflective patriotism' — a taught disposition combining gratitude for the country with informed, critical understanding of its principles — an explicit aim of K–12 civic education. The goal is not uncritical nationalism but a civic habit that enables citizens to defend, dispute, and improve self‑government rather than retreat into cynicism or mere sentiment. — If schools adopted this as a curricular objective, debates over civic curricula, history teaching, and national identity would shift from culture‑war sloganeering to concrete curricular design and state education policy.