oh no! not the pledge in other languages!

IowaStatePhiPsi · #1 03-11-2005, 12:00 PM

http://www.nbc4i.com/education/4271505/detail.html

Quote:

Teen Protests After Pledge Recited In Foreign Languages

UPDATED: 10:04 am EST March 10, 2005
MILLERSVILLE, Md. -- A ninth-grader is protesting the broadcasting of the Pledge of Allegiance in foreign languages as part of National Foreign Language Week.

"This is America, and we got soldiers at war," said 15-year-old Patrick Linton. "When you're saying the Pledge in a different language which nobody understands, that's not OK."

Linton said he and other students at Old Mill High School sat down rather than stand Wednesday when the pledge was read in Russian over the school's public address system. Linton's teacher told him if he had a problem, he should leave the room, Linton told The (Baltimore) Sun. He did, and he does not plan to return this week.

Charles Linton, Patrick's father, said the use of other languages is disrespectful to the country.

"It's like wearing a cross upside down in a church," said Charles Linton of Glen Burnie.

School system officials said the activity will continue, with the English version of the Pledge being read first for the rest of the week.

"This is just a way to connect what's going on in the classroom and this daily activity where we say the Pledge of Allegiance," said Jonathan Brice, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The pledge was to be read in Spanish, French, Latin, Russian and German.

Brice pointed out that students must complete two years of foreign language study to attend the University of Maryland.

Linton was absent from school on Monday. At the end of his class Tuesday, the announcements came over the loudspeaker as usual, he said. But the Pledge was recited in another language - French, he later found out.

"I looked around, and I was like, 'What's going on?'" Patrick said. "We're at war right now, and our schools are supposed to be patriotic," he said.

Bret Lovejoy, executive director of the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages, said, "America is about promoting democracy."

He described translating the Pledge as "an innocent and harmless way to get children interested in other languages."

Morons

DeltAlum · #2 03-11-2005, 01:56 PM

I didn't know we were at war with Russia or France. How about saying the Pledge in Spanish? To a substantial part of our population, Spanish is or was their first language.

Morons is a good word.

Rudey · #3 03-11-2005, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
I didn't know we were at war with Russia or France. How about saying the Pledge in Spanish? To a substantial part of our population, Spanish is or was their first language.

Morons is a good word.

English is our national language regardless of whatever first languages are out there.

-Rudey

DeltAlum · #4 03-11-2005, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
English is our national language regardless of whatever first languages are out there.

-Rudey

Remember the old "Melting Pot" thing they talked about in American History?

If a Russian, Spaniard, Frenchperson, Iraqi -- whomever wants to pledge her/his allegiance to this country, I don't care how he/she says it.

Friends are good to have, no matter what language they speak.

To me, it's what you say and mean -- not the language you say it in.

Rudey · #5 03-11-2005, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Remember the old "Melting Pot" thing they talked about in American History?

If a Russian, Spaniard, Frenchperson, Iraqi -- whomever wants to pledge her/his allegiance to this country, I don't care how he/she says it.

Friends are good to have, no matter what language they speak.

To me, it's what you say and mean -- not the language you say it in.

When you come to this country you come to join something new...to be another ingredient in the melting pot to make stew...not be a carrot. That makes sense even as strange as it sounds.

-Rudey

DeltAlum · #6 03-11-2005, 02:52 PM

...as part of National Foreign Language Week.

Even if you don't agree with the other thoughts above, do you think this is a bad educational tool for National Foreign Language Week?

I don't. I think it makes a lot of sense.

Lil' Hannah · #7 03-11-2005, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
English is our national language regardless of whatever first languages are out there.

-Rudey

The US doesn't have an official language...

Munchkin03 · #8 03-11-2005, 02:58 PM

"This is America, and we got soldiers at war," said 15-year-old Patrick Linton.

I think he, and his parents, should be a little more concerned about his grasp of the English language...and then they can worry about foreign languages.

texas*princess · #9 03-11-2005, 03:01 PM

Seriously..it was National Foreign Language Week. I don't know why the kid is getting all worked up b/c the announcements were read in English and the Pledge was read in French. If they read the announcements in French the poor kids wouldn't know what was going on.

This kid needs to grow up

And on a random note, when I first read the title I thought you meant the book Pledged in other languages

Rudey · #10 03-11-2005, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lil' Hannah
The US doesn't have an official language...

You're right. It doesn't declare English as its official language. However, English has been deeply rooted in the country from the beginning and is the largest of the languages. Governments, municipalities, and schools spend millions every year to educate students in English including foreign students that take ESL.

And DeltAlum, I don't know what the hell National Foreign Language Week is. The first thing we should do is make sure we don't promote stupid holidays. I have a feeling my tax dollars are somehow being spent on promoting this retarded holiday. You learn language in a class and through interactions abroad - not in a cryptic weeklong celebration. On top of that I don't see how saying the pledge of allegiance in Russian promotes learning foreign languages.

-Rudey

AOII_LB93 · #11 03-11-2005, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
You're right. It doesn't declare English as its official language. However, English has been deeply rooted in the country from the beginning and is the largest of the languages. Governments, municipalities, and schools spend millions every year to educate students in English including foreign students that take ESL.

And DeltAlum, I don't know what the hell National Foreign Language Week is. The first thing we should do is make sure we don't promote stupid holidays. I have a feeling my tax dollars are somehow being spent on promoting this retarded holiday. You learn language in a class and through interactions abroad - not in a cryptic weeklong celebration. On top of that I don't see how saying the pledge of allegiance in Russian promotes learning foreign languages.

-Rudey

Rudey,
Chances are your taxes dollars didn't go to funding this, but teacher dollars did...what the purpose is of NFLW is to promote the learning of foreign languages to American students as well as stressing the necessity for students to learn a foreign language to compete in the global market. It's not an official holiday. "In the United States, National Foreign Language Week is celebrated in the first weeks of March annually, with a theme selected by Alpha Mu Gamma, the national collegiate foreign language honor society. " It's actually something that has been around since 1957.

Read on if you are inclined: http://citywww.lacc.cc.ca.us/activit...r/amg/nflw.htm

The American Association for Teachers of French also sponsors through their members a "National French Week", so we can promote the study of the French language, but again, it's not a federal thing.

AKA_Monet · #12 03-11-2005, 10:26 PM

Can half of you write the Pledge of Allegiance?

Here's a website for your history... Interesting...

Pledge of Allegiance

ETA: And this ain't so conservative as one may think...

Christian Socialist?

lifesaver · #13 03-12-2005, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
You're right. It doesn't declare English as its official language. However, English has been deeply rooted in the country from the beginning and is the largest of the languages.
-Rudey

Is that what your ancestors were speaking when they arrived on our shores?

Mine didnt.

On another note, it reminds me of an argument I had with an undergraduate brother who was a bit xenophobic. We were discussing making English the official language of Texas. Mike responded very bluntly, "If English was good enough for Jesus to speak, its good enough for us in Texas."

Yeah. He's now a physician.

PM_Mama00 · #14 03-12-2005, 12:23 PM

I don't even understand why we have to take foreign languages to get into most universities. In Michigan, high school students are now required to take 3 years of a foreign language. (When I was in, it was 2 years) I took 3 years of Spanish in high school, and 2 semester of it in college.... I barely remember anything.

PhiPsiRuss · #15 03-12-2005, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lil' Hannah
The US doesn't have an official language...

It has a de facto official language, and that language is English.