Learning to be Loyal

Book excerpt: How do nation-states inculcate loyalty? In Learning to Be Loyal, Harp explores the role of primary education in nation building in a region that moved back and forth between French and German control four times in the period between 1871 and 1945. On the basis of extensive archival research, he shows how both France and Germany used the teaching of the national language, culture, geography, and history to transform ordinary people's local and religious identities into national ones. Illustrating how recent the use of education as a tool of nation building is, Learning to Be Loyal provides a historical perspective for contemporary discussions about the role of education in meeting the challenges of linguistic diversity and national culture in the late twentieth century. It will appeal broadly to social historians of modern Europe and especially to those interested in the history of education and nationalism.