An abuse of teaching: Empathic citizenship and English language arts in a time of rising nationalism

In the reflective case study, I examine how seven of my pre-service English teachers reconcile their collective interest in justice-oriented citizenship education with a ‘pro-American curriculum’ that seems to conflate patriotism with American nationalism. Through these pre-service teachers’ insights, I investigate how such ideologies as patriotism, nationalism and teacher identity are constructed and interpreted in the ELA classroom. Additionally, this study seeks to help teachers and teacher educators develop skills, knowledge and understanding to address issues of citizenship education across the education landscape. Indeed, the pre-service teachers in this study may not yet know the realities of their future classrooms; but if the various crises and conflicts of 2020 demonstrated anything, it is that their world will be anything but apolitical.