My aim in this paper is to problematize assumptions that underlie civic education as it is practiced in polish schools. The main object of my criticism is the absence of axiological dimension in the social studies curriculum. This absence is construed in the context of present social and political realities, such as: the growth of right wing populist parties, the popularity of nationalist ideas and practices among the younger generation, the presence of hate speech in the public sphere and the growing wave of chauvinism and xenophobia. In this context, the main thesis of this paper is that pupils and students need to be provided with a symbolic universe founded on radical values such as justice, equality and solidarity. Those values could be a base for political identities alternative to the essentialist, and exclusionary identity offered by the modern right wing populism.