American Second graders taught Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish
Tucson Unified School District’s Gale Elementary School has a novel way of instructing second-graders in the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Teacher Anne Lee has the tykes say the pledge in three languages: English, Spanish and American Sign Language.
As expected, not all parents are pleased, as evidenced here.
This is the response one parent received from the principal:
Thank you for your interest in public education, Tucson Unified School District and Gale Elementary School.
Paula Godfrey
Principal
Gale Elementary School
This contentious issue previously arose in Maryland as covered at that time in the Washington Post.
April 4, 2008 at 2:53 pm
No wonder more and more parents are opting out of government schools.
April 4, 2008 at 3:48 pm
If your are going to teach languages (which this doesnot look like a language class) then english should be spoken. ( it doesn’t make a difference on whether its ordering from your lunchen menu or Pledging Allegiance to the flag ), foreign languages should be taught in language class.
April 4, 2008 at 4:40 pm
The Pledge of Allegiance is a pledge to this country. It most certainly should be taught in English ONLY. Are we losing our minds?
April 4, 2008 at 9:24 pm
In fact, I learned the pledge in Spanish (” Juro fidelidad a la bandera…”) in high school in the 70’s. However, that was in our Spanish class and all of the students in the class already spoke English whether their mother tongue was Spanish, English, Navajo, Hopi or something else.
Most of the children of immigrants that I know now prefer English over their parents’ language. I can only assume that most of them would prefer to recite the pledge in English if they recite it at all. Who are the people (activists?) who are trying to hold them back?
April 4, 2008 at 10:32 pm
A bit OT, but - holy cow, did you see the new Absolut ad that shows the Southwest US as part of Mexico?
April 5, 2008 at 1:24 am
Tucson is becoming a real cesspool. Thank the Lord I don’t live there.
April 5, 2008 at 10:31 am
The Reconquista movement is alive and well. Americans need to wise up. There are many south of the border and living here, as well, who want to “reclaim” their land in the southwest.
I quess it’s not enough that Mexico is a huge geographic area of crime and poverty. They want to insure that that ‘wonderful culture’ flourishes here.
April 5, 2008 at 11:27 am
My neighbor home schools her four children It can’t be easy, but she and her husband feel very stongly about not sending their children to public schools. Incidently, the kids are bright, score high on testing, and are a pleasure to have around. I interact with them often and they are impressive young people with a great deal of knowledge. I am amazed at their level of understanding of the events and history of the world in which they live. They know geography better than I do and are math whizzers.