Patriotism and Citizenship Education. Edited by Bruce Haynes

Abstract

Much of the self and mutual congratulation is well founded, and my irritation with it might simply reflect a parochial Scottish antipathy to high-fiving. It is refreshing to be exposed to an extensive body of writers and citations previously unknown to me but it is of concern that so few are from beyond the boundaries of the USA, the exception to this being the one Australian contributor; others would benefit from considering the contributions of others who have and act upon the same concerns elsewhere. Breslin and Dufour (2005), for example, brought together some useful insights into cross-curricular citizenship, some of which have been arrived at and included here apparently independently; we need to move forward, learning from each other, and this volume neither builds on such foundations nor shows any awareness of them. Indeed, it does not appear to show any awareness of such developments in US schools, and progress will not be made without identifying and understanding the starting point. I do have to acknowledge and support the ambition to develop creative approaches to citizenship education throughout higher education. This is not something which I am aware has been seriously discussed in the UK despite it surely being the next logical step in the process of developing a critically aware and communally active population. The contributors do not advocate a uniform curriculum for higher education, but stress the need to develop coherent approaches in all subject divisions. If this collection is to stimulate a similar discussion in the UK, I hope that discussion will be better critically and internationally informed. While Zlotkowski might have some justification in concluding that ‘there are many reasons why Dewey would have been pleased with this book’ (p. 210), there are also a few reasons why he would not have been delighted.