Nussbaum’s Argument

“I’m proud to be an American…” Is one of many songs well known to our country, but this is very true. Americans are proud to be Americans and they teach just that. What kind of history are we teaching our kids today? How are we learning? Well we are teaching our kids today the history and proud moments of the United States and how “special” a person is to be American. One thing we are forgetting is that we all indeed think of ourselves to have all been birthed the same way, by another human being, or as Martha Nussbaum an author depicts in her article Patriotism And Cosmopolitanism, in saying that we need to learn history of other cultures to be able to understand as well as teaching kids their history combined with other nationalities, countries, ethics, and so on. This is studying Cosmopolitanism, which I must agree is great. It will take out the “ab” out of abnormal when we see other cultures practicing their “normal”.

            If we were taught many languages and cultures would we still be the same people in which we have become or would we choose to be different than our own local communities? In the article the author continuously emphasis that cosmopolitan education makes a lot of sense and it has positive outcomes. Yes, it does makes sense that if we as humans understand other countries histories and cultures we would be able to understand why they do or act as they do. As well as benefitting us by being able to communicate on a level that we know what may offend them or know how another countries does things. A disagreement I must have is that a child does not care enough about this to want to have an understanding. Most kids do not split until them themselves identify who they are and create their own community of friends.