Do you think that promoting patriotism should be part of a school's education curriculum?

Sunday 30th March, 12:41 PM JST

Latest 15 of 22 Total Comments Show All

Hughgarse at 02:44 PM JST - 31st March

"Teach children to have self-respect, nurture their self-esteem, and they’ll grow up wanting to make their country good enough for them to belong to."

exactly!
Hikozaemon at 03:15 PM JST - 31st March

Cleo, glad to see that as usual, you are a nicer, vegetarian version of myself on these things ;-)

The whole "nurture their self esteem" thing just always makes me remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoS8j9eNMZU

I used to get more into the "disagreeing" with zombie kids, tired salarimen and freeters with no future to look forward to... I even did the salariman thing myself for many years. But with the passage of time, I think that these things all originate out of and feed into the things I like the most about Japan. I think that Japan is essentially a peaceful "nerd" culture. People quietly focus in on the few things they care about, usually being their job and one hobby, or in the case of freeters, a hobby, supported by a job with no future, and peacefully go about their lives being nice to everyone else each in their own little worlds.

Yes, the end result is people don't really care about things outside of these little "spheres" of family, work and hobbies, like politics, international relations, civic participation and responsibility and so on, and that is what this policy is trying to address. But to my mind, I don't know that these things are really in such a need of being changed.

I guess that I have come to the conclusion that people aren't actually as miserable as I first thought they were. The framework around education needs a lot of fixing up, but I think the less government interference in the content of education, the better - especially when it comes to anything labelled as "patriotism".

Peace
yurichan at 03:32 PM JST - 31st March

offcourse it should. It's ones own counry. You should tell something about it's history and in this case defend it's values. If you don't like it just gtfo. Like most of you. damn country traitors

In the context of japan. I love Japan. It should believe in itself and not listen to what other countries has to say/ Especially UN or Eu, US. The US for example doesn't take crap of what other countries tell them. But do expect other countries to listen to them.
cleo at 03:43 PM JST - 31st March

'You should tell something about it’s history' Yes, that's called ...errr... History class.

'and in this case defend it’s values' What case is 'this case'? If the values are good ones, they don't need defending, just explaining. If they need defending, they're not good values.

I also love Japan. 'It' doesn't believe in anything, because 'it' doesn't have a mind to believe anything with; the people living there believe in different stuff depending on their own personal histories and situations, which is as it should be. I would have said the US was a good example of how not to teach patriotism; what you're describing isn't patriotism or values, but nationalistic hubris. We don't need none of that here.
DanManjt at 04:10 PM JST - 1st April

Cleo

For a society to value self-respect and nurture self-esteem for all, it must have citizens and not subjects, comrades, or plebs. With natural law, citizens can only exist as part of civil society. And civil society is only possible with patriotism.

Otherwise, you are left with simply nationalism.

Therefore, a citizenry truly interested in promoting self-respect and nurture self-esteem in its children, that is preserving their Liberty, must teach civics and patriotism in schools.

They will get it no other way otherwise.

And then you are left with a bastard patriotism along the Russian standard.
outhousejt at 04:59 PM JST - 1st April

I like the apathy people have in Japan about their country, thats what makes Japan a nice country to be in. Not like USA where people worship their own country like a cult like religion. It is the same with religion too. Americans are extremists. Americans swear allegiance to the flag. Americans sing the national anthem before each baseball game. They even have war planes and millitaristic ceremonies before baseball games in US. I think it is ridiculous. Americans are ingrained with blind patriotism in my view it is blind submission. They even have a law called the Patriot Act. Why do they have to sing the anthem before each baseball game? Is it to remind themselves that they are Americans?

From my own experience I find Europeans and Japanese in general to be less patriotic than Americans or Australians and less religious too than especially Americans. I dont need to sing the national anthem and pledge the flag everyday to be reminded that I am a nationality of so and so country. ( The greatest country in the world ad nauseum )

You ask many Japanese if they are proud of their country and I bet many will say yeah whatever. I think the attitude is fairly similar in Europe too as in Japan. Most people especially the young people do not really care what country they come from.

This kind of patriotism how the school wants to shove downs peoples throat is outdated.
lipscombe at 12:13 AM JST - 2nd April

the lack of extreme patriotism or religious zeal in Japan are major selling points for me and part of the reason I have been here so long. the whole 'you're not a patriot GTFO!' argument is just playground. I dont feel an overwhelming love or allegiance to any one country, what do you suggest I do Yurichan? live on the moon? "love it or leave it!" pfffft people who say crap like that usually have no idea what loving something actually is and how little it has to do with flags and anthems
johnalex40 at 01:28 AM JST - 2nd April

It is highly important to be proud of ones country.

Dispite of the terrible history some may say or bring up.

The true note is to be proud of the cultural history of what their country has developed.

I can understand why Japan is still questioning patriotism because of the last war and how their own people were forced into an ideology.

They are still paying for this today. No one wants to know such shame and be constantly reminded about it. Unfortunately they inherited this and may take a few hundred years to resolve this pain.

It is long overdue for reconciliation. China does not want to let up because Japan has ALWAYS been their enemy. North Korea is just apart of China.

Patriotism should be part of a school's education curriculum as well as the TRUE history of the last hundred years.
tako10 at 03:11 AM JST - 2nd April

Before requiring kids to study loyalty to the nation, Japan should require its own government leaders to support and uphold the Constitution of Japan. The Japanese constitution guarantees freedom of speech; forbids censorship; guarantees equality and outlaws discrimination based on race, sex, or family origin; prohibits granting privileges or authority to a religion; guarantees workers' rights, due process, and protection against self-incrimination, etc, etc. It’s very weird those LDP leaders who do not seem to uphold Japan’s own Constitution care about patriotism in education, and those who embrace Constitutional values are often labeled as anti-Japan in this country.
Hikozaemon at 08:29 AM JST - 2nd April

tako10 - I think that you are reading the wrong country's constitution. A lot of that stuff you quoted just isn't there, dude.

Peace
European1 at 09:24 AM JST - 2nd April

So, how about gaijin kids at Japanese Schools? Will they teach them how to love your J mom/dad more than foreign one?(int`l couple case)
tako10 at 09:25 AM JST - 2nd April

Hiko-san - I’ve been watching Lou Dobbs (CNN) and feel a little sick, but I don’t think I made errors. Why you don’t know Japanese Constitution? It’s in the sixth grade textbook. Please read the chapter three. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/ConstitutionofJapan http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/S21/S21KE000.html
illsayit at 08:11 PM JST - 5th April

I think the word patriotism involves passion of, I think country, involving the National Anthem and the flag, binds the schools more than upholds, or doesn't uphold a history of. I would guess increasing patriotism within education and schools would mean more to a locality, rather than the whole country itself, and that is a good thing. I do also think though, that it is not the role of teachers, but the school, to teach passion and patriotism.
Shumatsu_Samurai at 11:11 PM JST - 5th April

It's a very poor choice. Teaching "patriotism" is too narrowly focused and suggests extreme nationalism.

However, I think that it is good to make children aware of good things about their country so that they can better appreciate it. Things like democracy and civil rights are often taken for granted, but they should make people feel "patriotic" to an extent.
Damax6 at 11:11 PM JST - 19th May

yada yada yada yada....yasukuni..why not,peral harbor hell yeah!!!. Toyota...hmmmm. the japanese have heeps to be proud of ,,,especially their amakudari and enjoh kosai abuses