Teach Secondary Issue 14.8

The scenes at recent anti-immigration protests are a sobering reminder of how important it is for students to distinguish between nationalism and patriotism, warns John Lawson ... Some readers might recall a viral video that did the rounds during 2024’s ‘Summer of Unrest’. It showed a primary schoolboy draped in an England flag at an anti-immigration rally, chanting obscenities against a deity revered by well over a million UK residents. His mother – who, from the footage, seemed unable to discern the difference between patriotism and nationalism– is shown as being proud of her ‘ feisty tyke ’ for speaking his mind. His mind? Or hers?Why would this lad harbour such vitriolic anger against any particular deity or religion? He surely wouldn’t have learnt such hatred in RE lessons. Hatred is a learned behaviour. Love, kindness and affinity are all far more natural – and more worthy of nurture. Dignityversus skulduggery I’m a proud Englishman, but that pride doesn’t mean that I believe England does everything ‘better’ than other countries. Because we don’t! The late Norman Tebbit’s ‘Cricket test’ once probed the loyalties of Asian and Caribbean ‘Colonials’. While I’ve always rooted for England, I’ve never let national pride sully the joys of watching Lillee and Thomson terrorising English batters, or Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar destroying our bowlers. Sometimes, sport itself is the biggest winner. I love watching the world’s best in any sport. Being dignified in defeat, and learning from the experience, is an admirable trait that every child should be taught. We don’t lose, we learn . Which is why it’s shame, not pride, that I feel at the sight of lumpen hooligans chanting ‘ In-ge-rland ’ while vandalising European city centres after a football match results in a loss for their team. And besides, if England really is ‘just for white English people’, how do we explain British imperialism, or colonialism?Were those British invasions of distant foreign territories warmly embraced by their local populations? As Desmond Tutu once commented in jest, ‘ When white missionaries came to Africa, we had the land and they had the Bible. They asked us to close our eyes and pray. When we opened our eyes, they had the land and we had the Bible ’. History teachers shouldn’t be required to airbrush the skulduggery of the past that helped to forge Great Britain, and their refusal do so doesn’t mean ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Lawson is a former secondary teacher, now serving as a foundation governor while running a tutoring service, and author of the book The Successful (Less Stressful) Student (Outskirts Press, £11.95); find out more at prep4successnow.wordpress.com or follow @johninpompano “Hatred is a learned behaviour” THE LAST WORD that they hate England. Fantasy stories, myths and legends don’t belong within a factual history curriculum. We owe it to our students to teach them truths about our collective past, while sensitively contextualising some British excesses. Unconditional love and truth Does it dilute anyone’s pride to acknowledge that Russia played a huge part in the defeat of Nazism? It’s been said of the 2016 EU referendum that we went to bed in Great Britain and woke up in ‘anti-woke’ little England. It remains debatable how true that is – but we should at least acknowledge that Brexit hasn’t been painless. So, what does nationalism provide that patriotism doesn’t? The key difference is that authentic patriots love their country deeply, and are prepared to stand up against anything that poisons the virtues that their nation proudly proclaims. Patriots are often empiricists, utilising truth and facts to establish reality. When Colin Kaepernick, an African-American NFL quarterback, first took a knee during the playing of the US national anthem ahead of a match, the then-presidential nominee Donald Trump demanded that the owners of his team, the San Francisco 49ers, fire him instantly. They couldn’t, however, because Kaepernick wasn’t – and indeed isn’t – a traitor. He continues to insist that he’s a patriotic American, having since regularly protested against the institutional racism of some police officers against African Americans. I, for one, have never doubted his patriotism. Nationalists, on the other hand, readily adopt the motto, ‘ My country right or wrong ’. A nationalist might concede that their country is involved in questionable actions – such as segregation, annexation or the bombing of other countries – yet proudly defend those actions. Slogan-driven, jingoistic nationalismhas since become a growing problem in England that must be addressed honestly in our schools, so that our children can tell the difference between that and genuine patriotism. As Martin Luther King Jr. once observed, “ Unconditional love and truth will have the final say in humanity’s fate…only love drives out hate. ” It’s time now to call out anyone calling upon our children to hate others. 98 teachwire.net/secondary