Citizens have Appalling Ignorance According to Martha...

In Martha Nussbaum’s essay, â€Å"Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism†, she claims that the people of our nation are â€Å"appallingly ignorant† of the world, to which I concur. Children in America should learn about the world at an early age. What Nussbaum believes is that an education in which students are taught that they are, first and foremost, a citizen of this world, is one that will assist in the production of men and women that will look at another human being from another nationality and see no difference between each other. This sounds good and all, but what I want to know is how this kind of education would be integrated in todays’ schools, and how it will affect the students. Nussbaum’s idea of a cosmopolitan education, although altruistic in nature, interferes with todays’ time and resource hungry education system. Even if cosmopolitan education were to be integrated in schools, there would be nothing to stop it from having the same complications as a nationalistic or patriotic school. If students are to be educated about other cultures, such as their histories, hardships and successes, as Nussbaum believes they should, the curriculum taught in class would have to shift to accommodate these new topics. Text books that are used in class and subjects that are discussed in class would also have to change. Nussbaum suggests students be taught about larger issues such as global hunger to better their understanding of what should be done in their own local communities. Nussbaum