Subjects into Citizens

This chapter emphasizes the most effective and constructive tool of nation building: the public school. The chapter narrates public schools' formative moments, and how the states, comprised mainly of immigrants, embarked on an educational journey intended to transform inhabitants into fellow national. In the newly emerging United States of America, public education was taken to be the surest form of protection against tyranny, anarchy, factionalism, and the disruption of law and order. The chapter shows national education as a way of preserving the nation's freedom, encouraging political participation, and fostering a sense of brotherhood. Ultimately, the chapter investigates how national education turned subjects into citizens, allowing for the development of a set of linguistic and symbolic skills that facilitate communication between fellow nationals, evoking a willingness to work for the benefit of a common good.