School's Foreign-language pledge draws protest

[Lynn Goldstein]

Patriotism aside (since I don’t feel that the  act of saying the pledge in
other languages is unpatriotic or  disrespectful), I do find it strange
that as a way to celebrate multilingualism the school is having students
recite the pledge in languages other than English. If I look at it from
the point of view of a speech event, it’s the wrong medium (language) for
this speech event. I don’t understand why they don’t learn about the
national anthems or something like that in other languages.

Lynn
lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu on Saturday, March 12, 2005 at 12:04 PM
+0000 wrote:
>I hate to say it, but the US Pledge of Allegiance has an "official" text.
>
>I just did a FindLaw search and I found the text of the Elk Grove
>(California) case brought by the avowed athiest Needow on behalf of his
>daughter, challenging the "Under God" line. The text of the Pledge was
>established by law in 1942 (Chapter 435, 56 Stat. 377. Section 7) and
>amended in 1954 (Act of June 14, 1954, ch. 297, 68 Stat. 249) to include
>the words "one Nation under God".  A later statute (2003) codified how the
>salute to the US flag is to be conducted (and again gives the text of the
>1954 Pledge).
>
>Nothing, however, states that this has to be in English; but since the
>official text IS in English, I think Mr. Linton may have a case, and we
>may have a problem here.
>
>Here's the URL from Findlaw:
>http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs/02-1624/02-1624.mer.ami.sherman.html
>
>Here's the URL for the manner of the pledge to the flag:
>http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/4/chapters/1/sections/section%5F4.html
>
>HS
>
>On Fri, 11 Mar 2005, Aurolyn Luykx wrote:
>
>> Mr. Linton sounds like he's from the "if English was
>> good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me" school
>> of thought.
>> Aurolyn
>>
>>
>> --- "Harold F. Schiffman"
>> <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
>>
>> > >From the Annapolis Capital,
>> >
>> http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2005/03_10-14/TOP
>> >
>> > School's foreign language Pledge draws protest
>> >
>> > By RYAN BAGWELL, Staff Writer
>> >
>> > Monday it was Spanish. Tuesday it was French.
>> > Yesterday it was Russian,
>> > and this morning it was Korean. At Old Mill High
>> > School, the morning
>> > Pledge of Allegiance was recited over the public
>> > address system in foreign
>> > languages each day this week. To Charles Linton,
>> > that's just plain
>> > un-American.
>> >
>> > "I ain't gonna stand up and pledge my allegiance to
>> > the United States in
>> > any foreign language," said a furious Mr. Linton,
>> > who pulled his
>> > ninth-grade son, Patrick, out of class this morning.
>> > The practice
>> > celebrates National Foreign Language week, Old Mill
>> > Assistant Principal
>> > Mary Lappe said, and has been done at the school for
>> > years.
>> >
>> > But Mr. Linton called it an unpatriotic display. He
>> > won't send Patrick
>> > back to school until Monday, unless the school
>> > restores the pledge to
>> > English. "We got people in a war right now," said
>> > Patrick, 15. "It's not
>> > right." School officials said reciting the Pledge in
>> > foreign tongues will
>> > continue as planned this week.
>> >
>> > "I think it's a good-faith effort on the part of the
>> > school to recognize
>> > the diversity of the student body," said Kenneth P.
>> > Lawson, school system
>> > deputy superintendent. "I don't necessarily think
>> > it's a bad thing." Board
>> > of Education policy expressly says the Pledge should
>> > be recited each
>> > morning, with teachers and students standing to face
>> > the flag. The policy
>> > explicitly says it should be recited in English.
>> >
>> > "I think if they took this action on a regular and
>> > routine basis we'd
>> > probably want to take a look at the policy, but
>> > since it's only happening
>> > for a week, I don't think that violates the spirit
>> > of the policy," Mr.
>> > Lawson said. Mr. Linton disagreed, saying it's an
>> > offensive practice that
>> > should be halted immediately.
>> >
>> > "I compare it with wearing a cross to church upside
>> > down," he said.
>> > Patrick's unease apparently caught on during
>> > yesterday's Pledge. "I sat
>> > down, and when I sat down, one other kid sat down,
>> > and I looked behind me
>> > and three other kids sat down," Patrick said.
>> >
>> > Board policy says students and teachers can excuse
>> > themselves from
>> > participation in the morning flag salute. But it
>> > also states, "any
>> > individual who commits an act of disrespect, either
>> > by word or action, is
>> > in violation of the intent of this section." Mr.
>> > Linton pledged to do
>> > whatever it takes to stop the foreign language
>> > observation of the Pledge
>> > before tomorrow's recitation.
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>