Question for everyone...
My son is an 8th grader this year at a public middle school here in Southern Indiana. He is taking 2nd year spanish and has a new spanish teacher.
Today, he told me that his spanish teacher told the class that starting on Monday, at a random time at the beginning of the class, she will have the students stop what they're doing, stand, and say the Pledge of Allegiance in spanish. She is going to have a handout to help them memorize the spanish version. I want to be clear that this is NOT the official Pledge at the beginning of the school day. This is in only that individual teachers classroom.
Now, my reaction is this. I told him to stand respectfully, and either say the Pledge of Allegiance in english with his hand over his heart, or to stand respectfully and say nothing. I told him to bring the paper home to me...I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it at this point, but I feel like I may need it. I honestly intend to contact the teacher and/or prinicpal of the school on Monday morning, and depending on how that goes I may be headed to the administrative offices downtown. From there...I don't know..I guess I'll take one step at a time.
My question is this...am I over-reacting to this? I feel that the Pledge of Allegiance should be said in english. I understand that we have spanish speaking troops serving our country, but I think that students that are American should not be forced to say the Pledge in another language if they believe that it's not appropriate, and my son, being a Boy Scout, feels like this isn't right. He's a straight A student in advanced classes, so the reprecussions of not following his teacher's instructions are weighing heavily on him, as is this whole situation on me. Give me some input, please. I'm so aggravated right now over this that I can't hardly think straight. What would you do if you were in this situation?
My son is an 8th grader this year at a public middle school here in Southern Indiana. He is taking 2nd year spanish and has a new spanish teacher.
Today, he told me that his spanish teacher told the class that starting on Monday, at a random time at the beginning of the class, she will have the students stop what they're doing, stand, and say the Pledge of Allegiance in spanish. She is going to have a handout to help them memorize the spanish version. I want to be clear that this is NOT the official Pledge at the beginning of the school day. This is in only that individual teachers classroom.
Now, my reaction is this. I told him to stand respectfully, and either say the Pledge of Allegiance in english with his hand over his heart, or to stand respectfully and say nothing. I told him to bring the paper home to me...I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it at this point, but I feel like I may need it. I honestly intend to contact the teacher and/or prinicpal of the school on Monday morning, and depending on how that goes I may be headed to the administrative offices downtown. From there...I don't know..I guess I'll take one step at a time.
My question is this...am I over-reacting to this? I feel that the Pledge of Allegiance should be said in english. I understand that we have spanish speaking troops serving our country, but I think that students that are American should not be forced to say the Pledge in another language if they believe that it's not appropriate, and my son, being a Boy Scout, feels like this isn't right. He's a straight A student in advanced classes, so the reprecussions of not following his teacher's instructions are weighing heavily on him, as is this whole situation on me. Give me some input, please. I'm so aggravated right now over this that I can't hardly think straight. What would you do if you were in this situation?