Thus, notwithstanding the general dominance of didactic approaches as a visible way of teaching nationalism, Sim’s case study revealed diverse approaches adopted by her sample of teachers. The progressive teachers believed that there are alternative pedagogical approaches to achieve nationalistic goals in citizenship education. They preferred more active learning, group work , and rational thinking to coconstruct nationalistic goals. Unlike the conservative teachers who believed in didactic teaching for nationalistic education, the progressive teachers regarded national education as a process of persuasion rather than ‘drill and grill’. For them, a process of engagement, Q&A, and persuasion has to be built upon trust, respect, and cooperation. Despite this preference for an ‘open’ pedagogical approach, the socialization goal of setting ‘ correct knowledge and values to function in society’ remains the same. Thus, the progressive teachers in this study were still exercising epistemic authority, but in an open and subtle way.