Patriotism should not be taught and enforced in all elementary schools in the USA.

Before I start this debate, I want to ask everyone who is voting in this debate to vote based upon the debate itself, and not upon the positions the debaters are taking. Please do not vote in this debate based upon your own opinion. Vote based upon who did the better job of presenting and advancing their arguments and who rebutted their opponent's arguements better. Thank You

Because 100 characters is not nearly enough for me to explain the topic, I shall do that here. Patriotism, as defined by Merriam Webster, is: love and devotion to one's country, in this case the USA. By "taught and enforced," I mean that children will be forced to love the USA, with no alternative. They would have to love the USA, and be devoted to the USA, only. By all schools, I mean all public and private schools. Every single elementary school in the USA.

Now to my arguements:
My first point is simple. Schools were created to teach and give children tools that they could use to their advantage later in life. One of these tools is the ability to make a decision on your own. No school plans everything for their children, and does not let them choose anything. If you are forcing them to love the USA, then the school is taking away this tool that they have given the children. The school would be depriving the children of somehting they all have a right to have.

My second argument ties in with my first. Our country was founded on the principles of freedom, and with freedom comes the right to make your own choices. The Constitution is in place to protect our rights and freedoms, and to ensure that no one can take them away from us. If we force children to believe in something that they may or may not believe in, then we are taking away these rights. We would be doing exactly what we hoped not to do.

I await my oppponent.

First I will start of this debate by saying that it is not the matter of opinion or what is and isnt right, it is about the debate in itself. I personaly do not agree with the subject but it is not about that. Let us beggin.

School was created for giving young youth tools for the future. One of those tools is love and devotion for his great country. I person is best spending there time devoted to there county in a patriotic spirit. Thousands have died in the same means because of there devotion. It is this devotion we want to instill in youth so that they to will grow up suporting the country that was founded on patrionism. Think back in history how the many American patriots, heros, brought us were we are today. Do we not want these kids to grow up in the same fashion? This is a free country like my oponent says but kids are not always free to make there own choices and though they do not see it it is usualy for there own good. This is nothing diferent. Schools do not make all the kids choices but they should teach these kids good moral values like love of ones country.

Every American does have his own freedom but this country should teach our youth values that will benifit this country in the long run. If the child/parent does not like or suport this country then they should ethier live with it and reap the benifits or leave if they feel a devotion to another country. USA military has to respect the rules of other countries even if they do not like them and bear with it for the time being. My oponent defines patriosim as a forced love of that country and that country only. It is more then that, though. It is the spirit of service and devotion to the country you are in. Because our country does so much for us we should return our gratitude with a little patrionism and devotion. Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. A country should be more then a place were many live it should be a land were many work together, making sacrifises for the others in that country and serving/loving that country hole heartedly. that is patriosim.

>>I person is best spending there time devoted to there county in a patriotic spirit.
What exactly do you mean by this statement? I could not understand it, and therefore I will not answer it.
>> It is this devotion we want to instill in youth so that they to will grow up suporting the country that was founded on patrionism.
Yes, many people would want to teach patrotism to children. However, what we have to realize that not all children will want to love the USA. That is a choice we make. Making this choice for the children is going against the principles on which this country was founded on. The children should be given a choice, and if they choose to accept patriotism, that is their choice. If they do not, then we should respect their opinion and not force it upon them.
>>Think back in history how the many American patriots, heros, brought us were we are today. Do we not want these kids to grow up in the same fashion?
Again, we might want these kids to grow up in a patriotic fashion, but it is not the school's place to force the child to love the USA. Let me give you an example. Many people would not want gay people in their school. Are we going to force all gay people to become hetrosexual? I sure hope not. Just like we wouldn't force the children to be hetrosexual, we shouldn't force them to love the USA.
>> This is a free country like my oponent says but kids are not always free to make there own choices and though they do not see it it is usualy for there own good. This is nothing diferent. Schools do not make all the kids choices but they should teach these kids good moral values like love of ones country.
First of all, you might believe that loving one's country is a good moral value, but some may not. This is an opinion. But that is not the point of this debate. However, most of those choices you mentioned are not opinions. They are not beliefs. Patriotism is a opinion. It is a belief. It is a personal choice. You would not force your student to believe in the Torah, if that child is not a Jewish person, correct? If you were a school, would you force all of your students to pray 5 times a day to Mecca? Unless you were in a Muslim or Jewish school, you would not. In this debate, we are talking about all elemenatary schools in the USA. We should not force children to believe in something they may or may not believe in.
>>School was created for giving young youth tools for the future. One of those tools is love ...not make all the kids choices but they should teach these kids good moral values like love of ones country.
In this paragraph, are you suggesting that we brainwash all of our nation's children into believing something they might not want to believe in? That is what this paragraph sounds like.
>>Every American does have his own freedom but this country should teach our youth values that will benifit this country in the long run.
So you are saying that a free county should not give the children the same rights as the adults??? You are saying that children are not Americans?? You are also saying that because they are children, they should not have the same rights as adults. This is ridiculous.
>> If the child/parent does not like or suport this country then they should ethier live with it and reap the benifits or leave if they feel a devotion to another country. USA military has to respect the rules of other countries even if they do not like them and bear with it for the time being.
How does this have anything to do with the topic of this debate??
>>My oponent defines patriosim as a forced love of that country and that country only.
This is untrue. If you look at my first argument, I only defined patriotism as what Merriam Webster defined it as. I did not say that it is a forced love of the country. However, the topic includes enforcing it. Just clarifying.
>>It is the spirit of service and devotion to the country you are in.
In other words, it is the love and devotion you show to your country!
>>Because our country does so much for us we should return our gratitude with a little patrionism and devotion.
This is your own personal opinion. It should not be pulled into this debate. I will not answer this argument.
>> A country should be more then a place were many live it should be a land were many work together, making sacrifises for the others in that country and serving/loving that country hole heartedly. that is patriosim.
But you have not said why it should be enforced in schools across the USA, however. This is only your opinion on what a country should be. It has not relevance to this topic.

Now to advance my arguments.
Like I said before, we should not force children to love the USA. We should not force them to believe in something that they do not believe in. Children should not have any fewer rights than adults, and we would never think of forcing patriotism upon all adults in the USA. What is it about children that makes it justifiable to force them to believe in something that they might never believe in. Just like you would never try to convert a Sunni to a Shite (sorry for any misspellings), you should never try to force a child to believe in an idea and belief that they might not follow. Thank you.

I won't say anything this round to let my opponent have a chance to reply to my previous points. We can just have a 2 round debate.