Saturday, November 06, 2010

OK: Mom upset over son’s Pledge assignment

We read:
"Melissa Taggart says she was delighted that her son was learning a foreign language in the eighth grade — until she learned he was expected to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish. And that he’d receive a zero if he didn’t. …

She said she couldn’t begin to understand why her son’s teacher would choose the Pledge for her class. And she was upset that her son was told he would receive a zero if he did not complete the assignment.”

Source

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Um, it was the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States, not Mexico. It's called learning another language. That they even used the United States Pledge of Allegiance is unprecedented in a school, and is commendable. I am patriotic to the core, but really, this is a non-issue.

-sig

Anonymous said...

When I was in Spanish class back in 1968, we also learned the pledge in Spanish and nobody thought anything about it. It thought it was kind of cool!

Brian from Virginia said...

When I took a Spanish class in high school way back in mid 1980s, I also learned to say Pledge in Spanish. No one thought that it was anything more then just another assignment.

If this mother doesn't want her son learning to say things in Spanish, then he should not have been in the class in the first place.

71Husky said...

To those who had no problem learning the Pledge of Allegiance in spanish when they were in school, if you said 'no', would you have gotten a zero for the assignment? The posters only reacted to the 'learning' part of the commentary, not doing it or fail the assignment. There are two distinct and separate issues here. I believe that failure without an optional assignment is completely wrong and should be addressed by the school administration.

stinky said...

71Husky,

Back when I went to school, I would get a zero on any assignment that I wouldn't do, in any subject, so I did them instead and learned. How did you pass? Same way?

Should students not be taught words at all such as "liberty?" Should professional translators have the right to shut up in a diplomatic conference if they don't like what they have to translate? Can I claim on a math test to be philosophically opposed to any q I can't figure out and could I have a different one, please?

There are times in life to not give the baby its bottle. This would be one on them.

Anonymous said...

I believe that failure without an optional assignment is completely wrong and should be addressed by the school administration.

So you want the kid to be able to get credit for an assignment he did not complete? Or do you want him to be graded on a different assignment from that of his classmates so that the grades aren't based on the same test?

I have no idea what school you attended, but if my classmates or I didn't turn in an assignment, it was graded as a "0."

It is like that in the real world as well.

When a supervisor tells you to do something and you refuse, you get a "zero" and as an added bonus, you get a pink slip.

Anonymous said...

I see no logical reason to recite OUR pledge in Spanish, or any language other than the one the pledge pertains to. English. Would you also not have a problem with the pledge being said in Spanish while saluting the Mexican flag? (something that's actually happened in parts of Mexifornia) In spit of the change many liberals, Leftists, and pro-illegal immigrant advoctaes would love to see take place, English IS our language.

You've all commented on days gone by when you did this same thing and saw no problem. May i remind you all that the political atmosphere in the country was much different back then. I would be very interested to know what (if any) political motive the teacher may have had when giving this assignment. Did the (fact) that our public education systems are run by, and loaded with, anti-American Leftists, play any part in this assignment? If it did, then that young man should wear his zero with great pride.

Anonymous said...

I see no logical reason to recite OUR pledge in Spanish, or any language other than the one the pledge pertains to.

Because one way to learn a language is to take a known passage and translate it so to gain intimate knowledge of structure, verbs, etc.

The fact that what is being translated is the Pledge has nothing to do with this other than it is a well known passage.

Anonymous said...

to all the dumbasses that think that having to learn the Pledge in spanish is cool, go live in mexico and see if you will learn the mexican pledge or what ever they have in English. I would not want my child to learn the American Pledge in spanish. The key word is American, not the bastard spanish.

Anonymous said...

"Would you also not have a problem with the pledge being said in Spanish while saluting the Mexican flag?"

I would have a HUGE problem with that, because the "Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America" refers to the flag of the United States, not the flag of Mexico. Doing as you describe would be unpatriotic and disingenuous to the students because it is blatantly inaccurate.

The point is that learning another language allows for one to translate anything heard, said, or written in one language into another. it has nothing to do with patriotism or being anti-American. But they had better damn well not require the students to salute the Mexican flag.

-sig

Anonymous said...

It' s nada más que una tempestad en una taza de té

Anonymous said...

So you can get out of being forced to recite the pledge in English, but are punished for not reciting it in Spanish?

Anonymous said...

You might also consider the fact that Spanish is not solely the primary language of Mexico, but of many other nations as well. A language is not political. To 'ban' the Spanish language because we are unhappy with illegal immigration is just plain ignorant. Besides, I agree with the poster who suggested that if the parent doesn't want his or her child to learn how to speak Spanish, perhaps her or she should instead seek to have the child removed from the class.

Anonymous said...

The mother's position on this is infantile. It would make great assignments to learn to translate all the great American documents to other languages. It is not English which makes our country great but the principles and ideals embodied in the great American documents like the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and of course the Pledge of Allegiance.

Being able to articulate those in additional languages can only help their spread and that's not mentioning the simple fact that by learning them well enough to translate them to another language from English the students learn those principles even better.

This was a excellent assignment and the weakness here was in caving in to the mother's unreasonable demands.

(BTW - I am a monolingual person myself but I can appreciate the need to express great ideas in the languages others understand so they get a clearer idea of what they truly mean).

Anonymous said...

Look up the word "cunt" in the dictionary, and you'll see this mother's picture.

Anonymous said...

If the mother went to the school BEFORE the assignment was due, explained that the parents had a philisophical problem with the assignment, and requested another assignment, then the school should have complied with no penalty for the kid.

If the mother told her son to just skip the assignment without contacting the school, then the zero was justified and she's to blame.

Anonymous said...

If the mother went to the school BEFORE the assignment was due, explained that the parents had a philisophical problem with the assignment, and requested another assignment, then the school should have complied with no penalty for the kid.

If you read the article, there was just that option.

Quoting the article:

[Brenda Lyons, associate superintendent and public information officer for the Edmond School District] said students and parents were made aware of the assignment at the beginning of the school year, and added: “If a parent has an issue with an assignment and calls in advance of that assignment being given, then the student can be given an alternative assignment.”

If the mother told her son to just skip the assignment without contacting the school, then the zero was justified and she's to blame.

Exactly.

Anonymous said...

Time to tell those school offials to back off and quit forcing her son to recite the pledge in spanish becuase america wasnt founded by mexicans it was wounded by the english and tell the principal to go back to mexico and stay there

Spurwing Plover said...

Tell them liberal school officials IN ENGLISH PLEASE quit this bilingial poppycock and quit appeasing the illegal aliens and tell them to PLEASE SWIM BACK

Anonymous said...

The last two posters are obviously the result of the public school system as they cannot distinguish between saying the Pledge of Allegiance as an actual pledge, and reciting the translation of the Pledge as an assignment.

Anonymous said...

Forcing or requiring kids to recite pledges and allegiances is pure indoctrination worthy of totalitarian countries. Confident mature societies do not require their children to make public demonstrations of their loyalty to the state. It's redolent of North Korea and the former USSR. The USA needs to grow up and match maturity with its global power and influence (albeit that too is now already diminishing!).

Anonymous said...

Forcing or requiring kids to recite pledges and allegiances is pure indoctrination worthy of totalitarian countries.

Good thing that is not happening here. No child in the US is forced to state the Pledge as an oath.

The USA needs to grow up and match maturity with its global power and influence

Maybe we should start with educating posters on blogs so they understand issues before inserting their foot in their mouth.

Anonymous said...

4:37 - and realizing your comments could apply to yourself!

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:01

Please cite where I said something incorrect.