The flag of the United States, and especially the accompanying Pledge of Allegiance has certainly had its share of controversy, especially it seems in the last few years.
Well, the controversy didn't end with Michael Newdow.
Turns out that Noelle Tepper of Frederick County, Maryland also had a beef with what a local middle school was doing with the Pledge.
It seems that the school thought it would be a good idea to broadcast the pledge being recited in different classes. One of the broadcasts was of the Pledge being recited in Spanish in a Spanish class. Tepper was infuriated that the Pledge could be spoken in another language other than English because, according to her, "the Pledge of Allegiance is a sacred oath to Americans. Why should it be OK to translate it into another language where it loses meaning? Our government is in English. Our laws are in English. It is the predominant language, and it should be our national language."
So, first of all, she implies that because the Pledge is an oath for Americans, it can't be recited in another language. I know plenty of people who are Americans who speak more than one language (myself included). Does it make us any less American if we repeat the Pledge in another language?
Second of all, how does she know the translation of the Pledge in Spanish causes meaning to be lost? Sure there are times when translations aren't faithful to the original documents, but to just assume that meaning is lost is preposterous. Does she even speak Spanish?
Third, whether or not you believe English should be the national language of the U.S. should not preclude the idea that a middle school Spanish class have the opportunity to recite the Pledge in the language they are studying. It doesn't make them or the Pledge any less American.
Powered By Qumana
Posts
3 comments:
Good points. In fact i believe that teaching the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish would only instill those values contained therein in those that may not know or understand the pledge. No soy bilingue pero si, hablo espanol e ingles y en la mayoria de casos, una traduccion tiene el efecto en que da mas significado al dicho original. O sea, una traduccion directa del Pledge allegiance de ingles a espanol puede llevar consigo mas significado y ayudar al alumno apreciar mas la historia de su pais en que vive. Sigue adelante
My son is in a Spanish immersion program in Davis, CA. He is required to say the pledge of allegiance daily in Spanish. He is just starting the sixth grade and is upset that he only knows the pledge of allegiance and the National anthem in Spanish. There would not be much Spanish language educational loss if the kids were to be allowed to speak a few paragraphs of English each day if only to become culturally literate in their own culture.
The pledge is short. This is not about teaching Spanish it about bilingual educators forcing kids to made some sort if bizarre political statement.
Teaching the Pledge in Spanish helps our hispanic communities learn what it means to become an American. Memorization is nothing if the words don't mean anything. It should be said in classrooms in whatever language each person speaks, not required to be memorized a certain way.
Post a Comment