Offering a critical ethnography of education at the U.S.-Mexico border, Pledging Allegiance explores how public schools teach cultural and national values explicitly and implicitly. Susan J. Rippberger and Kathleen A. Staudt illuminate the complex overlays of culture and learning through the eyes of students, teachers, and administrators in U.S. and Mexican schools. This book examines nationalism and civic ritual, bilingualism, technology, and classroom organization to discover how educators along the border impart senses of national and cultural identity to their students.

Susan Rippberger is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations and Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Texas, El Paso. Kathleen Staudt is Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas, El Paso.

Introduction: Public Schools and Nationalism 1. Contextualizing Nationalism and Education 2. Nationalism, Civics, and Education 3. Classroom Organization and Management: Lessons on Civics 4. Bilingualism: Language Policy and Use 5. Technology: Control and Autonomy 6. Conclusions Bibliography