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HS Student Refuses To Recite Mexican Pledge Of Allegiance

As a parent, I believe the assignment was inappropriate. So, teachers may assign ANYTHING they want, no matter how inappropriate and it is acceptable because the student can simply take an 'F'? That isn't acceptable.

Pst, learn what a straw man is, you make them so often. The kid wasn't forced to do the assignment. She didn't do it? Great for her. She got an F. It's not as if she was then told to wear the Mexican uniform and parade around streets. She was told to recite something in Spanish. I don't really care about whether you're a parent or not. The teacher gave an assignment, the kid refused to do it on a bogus excuse, the kid got an F; nd of story. If she had been told to write an essay on the positive role of religion for a social studies class and refused, my answer would remain the same. :shrug:
 
Was the student given an F? I thought she was given an alternative assignment.
 
Ha. I understand directions without a compass. I just need to see it on a map to understand.

Did you have a different name because this is the first time I think that i have noticed you...
 
Pst, learn what a straw man is, you make them so often. The kid wasn't forced to do the assignment. She didn't do it? Great for her. She got an F. It's not as if she was then told to wear the Mexican uniform and parade around streets. She was told to recite something in Spanish. I don't really care about whether you're a parent or not. The teacher gave an assignment, the kid refused to do it on a bogus excuse, the kid got an F; nd of story. If she had been told to write an essay on the positive role of religion for a social studies class and refused, my answer would remain the same. :shrug:

Giving an assignment about religion like that is even more inppropriate and would see the teacher fired... I have never even heard of such a thing in a public school.
 
Was the student given an F? I thought she was given an alternative assignment.

Oh she was given make up work? The horror. I thought she had failed. The kid is being told she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to? Those evil Mexicans need to start taking cues from Catholics on indoctrination. They should force kids to sit there for hours singing norteno music until they ****ing learn to be paisanos!
 
Oh she was given make up work? The horror. I thought she had failed. The kid is being told she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to? Those evil Mexicans need to start taking cues from Catholics on indoctrination. They should force kids to sit there for hours singing norteno music until they ****ing learn to be paisanos!

Odd that you have such strong opinions when you don't have the facts.
 
Odd that you have such strong opinions when you don't have the facts.

Facts about what? Parents forcing their kids to go to church? Lol, those are facts of life. Want to try me?
 
Pst, learn what a straw man is, you make them so often. The kid wasn't forced to do the assignment. She didn't do it? Great for her. She got an F. It's not as if she was then told to wear the Mexican uniform and parade around streets. She was told to recite something in Spanish. I don't really care about whether you're a parent or not. The teacher gave an assignment, the kid refused to do it on a bogus excuse, the kid got an F; nd of story. If she had been told to write an essay on the positive role of religion for a social studies class and refused, my answer would remain the same. :shrug:

I don't happen to agree that the kid's decision was for a bogus reason. In fact, I think the assignment was made for a bogus reason.
 
I don't happen to agree that the kid's decision was for a bogus reason. In fact, I think the assignment was made for a bogus reason.

That's great for you. Who are you again? And why do you type in blue? That's Sheik's shtick.
 
Odd that you have such strong opinions when you don't have the facts.

You have a smooth way about you... welcome to the forum.

Bodi
 
I learned how to speak Canadian, eh? Drank Labatt's, ate Tim Horton's doughnuts and watched Hockey Night in Canada.

Did they teach you how to make your head flap up and down too? That's a really neat feature of canadians.

southparkoz.jpg


As far as the story goes...

I have no issues with foreign language classes teaching a bit of the culture of the languages origin. It helps better understand the context of how language works there in part. That said, I'd hope the class in question was focusing on far more examples of Spanish speaking countries...perhaps, I don't know, SPAIN...rather than JUST mexico.

If the student really had a huge issue with reciting the mexican pledge then I think a reasonable teacher would simply offer up something different. Perhaps recite a portion of the Mexican national anthem (if it had words) which would be less problematic to the students morals perhaps than pledging "allegiance" to another country. Or if that didn't work perhaps a segment of a speech by a famous mexican politician. Something along those lines.

Outright giving the kid a zero for not wanting to do something for a moral reason is hardly good teaching, does nothing for the kid, and is just lazy. If the teachers desire is to actually TEACH there's definite ways that can still be done. And if the kid refuses them all, then its obvious that its not an issue of having a principled issue with the work but simply that kid being a lazy ass trying to get out of work.
 
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By a first-year teacher. I remember when one of my kid's brand-new teachers decided that her third-graders should begin taking 6th-grade spelling tests. This did not work out well for her. Especially after she sent home a note in which she had spelled "inconvenience."

:mrgreen:
 
That's great for you. Who are you again? And why do you type in blue? That's Sheik's shtick.

Huh?

I gave my reasoning already, Hatuey. I'd like to hear yours. Why did you consider this assignment appropriate?
 
That's great for you. Who are you again? And why do you type in blue? That's Sheik's shtick.

Not this again... she is a taxpaying American citizen commenting on an issue taking place with and American in an American school, that's who she is.
 
Facts about what? Parents forcing their kids to go to church? Lol, those are facts of life. Want to try me?

No. Wouldn't be worth the time when you're already dissembling. ;)
 
Not this again... she is a taxpaying American citizen commenting on an issue taking place with and American in an American school, that's who she is.

And this is an American school in McAllen.
 
Pst, learn what a straw man is, you make them so often. The kid wasn't forced to do the assignment. She didn't do it? Great for her. She got an F. It's not as if she was then told to wear the Mexican uniform and parade around streets. She was told to recite something in Spanish. I don't really care about whether you're a parent or not. The teacher gave an assignment, the kid refused to do it on a bogus excuse, the kid got an F; nd of story. If she had been told to write an essay on the positive role of religion for a social studies class and refused, my answer would remain the same. :shrug:

Would it have been the same if she was forced to recite the lords prayer to better understand the view points of Christianity?

I can kind of understand it simply for what it was, which was a "pledge of allegiance" to the country of Mexico. I can understand parents being annoyed with the teach having their kids state such a pledge, as a class exercise or not, because of the message it imparts and is stating. If it was something even slightly less direct, like the national anthem, I'd agree with you further. But in this one instance I can see their point.

I'd feel the same way if it was flipped and in English classes in Mexico a teacher had them saying the Pledge of Allegiance for the U.S. Its just not intelligent or smart to ask kids to recite a "pledge" to another country. There's a plethora of other things you could have them recite that is less likely to cause issues.
 
I'd feel the same way if it was flipped and in English classes in Mexico a teacher had them saying the Pledge of Allegiance for the U.S. Its just not intelligent or smart to ask kids to recite a "pledge" to another country. There's a plethora of other things you could have them recite that is less likely to cause issues.

Quoted for emphasis...
 
Pst, learn what a straw man is, you make them so often. The kid wasn't forced to do the assignment. She didn't do it? Great for her. She got an F. It's not as if she was then told to wear the Mexican uniform and parade around streets. She was told to recite something in Spanish. I don't really care about whether you're a parent or not. The teacher gave an assignment, the kid refused to do it on a bogus excuse, the kid got an F; nd of story. If she had been told to write an essay on the positive role of religion for a social studies class and refused, my answer would remain the same. :shrug:

Not a bogus excuse; it is a perfectly legitimate one. It is an inappropriate assignment. You think teachers are the only judge of what an appropriate assignment is? I am both a parent AND a teacher, and trust me... they aren't. I have seen enough inappropriate assignments in my time to know that there are teachers who do not know what that line is. And yes, if the concequence is an 'F', yes, many students will seem forced to do it for a variety of reasons... I, for one, had to keep my grades up to remain eligible for athletics under state law and school policy...
 
The first-year teacher, according to the student, is from Mexico and loves it. The student also objected to the assignment's being on the U.S.'s Constitution Day.

Huh?

I've never even heard of "Constitution Day".
 
You have to play the video to get this fact, but this is a 15 year old in a public HS in Texas, and the assignment was given in her Spanish class.

I think the student was correct. She was there to learn to speak SPANISH, a language spoken in over a dozen nations around the globe, including SPAIN. She will not be aided by learning "Hispanic culture", Mexican Independence Day facts, or the pledge of allegiance to another nation.

NOT EVERY SPANISH SPEAKER IS MEXICAN.

Lots of you have probably taken a second language class....have any of you ever been asked to learn and recite another nation's pledge of allegiance?

If that is in fact the gist of the story... the student is a twit. Do your homework or fail.

The assignment was to memorize SOMETHING. Memorize it.
 
If that is in fact the gist of the story... the student is a twit. Do your homework or fail.

The assignment was to memorize SOMETHING. Memorize it.

I disagree. I can think of many items I would have been upset, had my kid been asked to memorize them. But more importantly to me, I also think this teacher had a purpose that was not related to teaching Spanish...to encourage the students to regard Mexico in a "special" way as opposed to any other foreign nation.
 
Again with the uninformed ignorant remarks. Show us all where anyone said what you alleged. Or put down the bottle for the night.

Moderator's Warning:
Do not insinuate that a member may be inebriated.
 
I disagree. I can think of many items I would have been upset, had my kid been asked to memorize them. But more importantly to me, I also think this teacher had a purpose that was not related to teaching Spanish...to encourage the students to regard Mexico in a "special" way as opposed to any other foreign nation.

Maybe she was. But we don't know much about Reyna Santos except that she is from Mexico herself and that, according to the student, she "loves Mexico." How old is she? If she's very young, maybe she was just fired up about the "Grito" (celebrated on 9-15):

Mexican Independence Day - 16 de Septiembre - Independence Day in Mexico

McAllen is a border town that has always been "porous." It's different down there from, say, an Ohio town. Remember David Hartley, the American jet skiier living in McAllen who was murdered last year on the shared lake?

What I mean is that there are tremendous tensions on the border. My bet is that the teacher is young and enthusiastic--this is her first year--and that with all the negative attention, she really regrets this assignment. Here's what the school district says:

Nothing wrong with Spanish class that riled parent | mcallen, parent, riled - McAllen ISD - TheMonitor.com
 
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