U.S. Norms in Education and Diplomacy

This paper identifies habits that contribute to American national identity, as demonstrated in the interactions of U.S. diplomats abroad. I examine the foundations of curriculum in U.S. education--and how national identity is reproduced within this domestic institution. Our American identity is the amalgamation of our individual habits which are rooted in our ideas, norms, and values of what is important and worthy of pursuit, what is proper and what is correct. These ideas form a discourse in American identity today, as they did in the time of John Dewey--father of modern education in the United States--and Alexis de Tocqueville--a sociologist, cultural anthropologist, and political commentator--who both have much to say on the relationship of formal education to national identity and politics. These particularly American cultural habits are elucidated in diplomatic action because diplomats are constantly in situations that highlight contrasts between cultures.