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The loss of nationalism in America is the same as the loss of nationalism in Britain's housing estates. It is due to the fact that no-one knows what it is to belong to a nation any more. I work with young teenagers who show more allegiance to the housing estates where they live and the gangs that they belong to, than the country in which they live. In my own opinion I feel that it is symptomatic of political correctness in schools and a lack of national history being taught to the youth of today. Youths that are brought up in hard deprived housing estates do not have the means of looking beyond the estate where they live and cannot explore this country of theirs. They therefore become isolated and insulated with the day to day dysfunction of where they live, which in turn causes them to be less and less interested in the nation as a whole and any notion of being loyal to it as it is no longer relevant to them and their day to day lives.

National history and citizen ship taught in schools has become a miss match of confusing luke warm politically correct sentiment and is not brought to life enough to appear interesting and engaging. This coupled with the fact that local councils no longer seem to support "British" cultural celebrations may lead youngsters to believe that being proud of their country is in someway to be frowned upon and are confused by mixed messages on what it means to be a good citizen. Having worked with youngsters studying citizen ship skills I have noticed that the curriculum for learning citizenship is only delivered on a local not a national emphasis and merely reiterates rules that these youngsters are to abide by in their local communities.

It says nothing about national pride and what it is to be a British citizen in terms of contributing to the nation as a whole. This merely reinforces the sense of isolation within local communities that young people are experiencing today and are reverting to an almost tribal way of living with gangs from rival estates doing battle to uphold the honour of where they live but would not join the army to fight for their nation.

This and the fact that central government is so far removed from the reality of certain elements of today's youth leads me to think that nations are dying at a social level and this new found neo-tribalism is merely a new if unpallitable social identity.

Learn more about this author, Martin Brown.
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