Posted on 11/25/2005 3:01:56 PM PST by chicagolady
I am the father of the young man who did not stand for the singing of the Mexican national anthem during a cultural awareness program at Larkin High School.
I have been constantly asked to explain the details of the event, and it is in response to these individuals that I offer the following facts.
Some of the students, my son included, were compelled to attend this assembly. The Mexican national anthem was printed on fliers and handed out to the attending students. The Mexican flag was marched in and placed on a podium by itself. The attendees were then asked to stand and sing the Mexican national anthem.
My son was not alone in his refusal to stand. Statements given to me by other youths and parents put the number of refusals at close to 20.
Larkin staff members immediately confronted the seated youth. Some of the students were threatened with in-school suspension; most of the seated students were intimidated into standing.
My son explained to the angry teacher who confronted him that he did not see a U.S. flag on the podium and he did not believe they were going to sing our national anthem. This teacher stated, "They have to stand for our national anthem, so you have to stand for theirs."
My son stated in response, "Yeah, but they're in our country."
The teacher called my son a punk and sent him to the office. The administrator in the office supported the teacher's demand and told my son that he could have made a more intelligent decision. My son was not formally disciplined. The teacher who confronted my son defended her actions to her students during class the following week.
I called Larkin principal Richard Webb to express my disappointment and concern. I described the manner in which my son had been treated. I was told that my son should have stood and that the school stood by its right to have this assembly in its chosen form.
I then exercised my right as a citizen and addressed the school board.
The press was present at the board meeting and media awareness snowballed from that point forward. Some of my statements to the board included, "I am disappointed that those responsible for creating an assembly intended to educate and sensitize Americans also felt free to act insensitively with regard to our culture. It is permissible to present another country's anthem alongside ours and receive standing respect. It is not reasonable to expect or demand that Americans stand and display respect for another flag and country in absence of the American anthem or flag."
I also asked the board to consider two positive actions. "First, encourage Larkin High School administrators to not underscore one culture to the exclusion of others. This ill-conceived mandatory assembly did nothing but widen the current schism. Second, I would ask the board to lay down some principles for future assemblies. While it is good educational practice to teach about other cultures, it is not an acceptable practice to require mandatory response to the patriotic elements of those cultures."
I was appalled by Webb's printed statement. Apologizing only for the "unfortunate spotlight" placed on the school does not acknowledge the process that brought the spotlight. Lack of proper oversight created an assembly that offended a large number of people. Teachers behaving badly guaranteed parental follow-through. Administrative silence and denial has perpetuated their arrogant image.
Trivializing the incident and belittling those it concerned has only confirmed Webb's lack of grounding with the community.
Since Dec. 8, 2004, educational institutions receiving federal funding are required to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution on Sept. 17 of each year. This year, Sept. 17 fell on a Saturday.
Our high school apparently chose on Sept. 16 not to hold an assembly on the Constitution of the United States, but to educate our youth on the patriotic elements of another country.
- Bedard is an Elgin resident.
11/25/05
KUDOS to EMS Fire Lt. Robert Bedard and to his son. Great article... thanks for posting it!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Thanks; I was posting from what I remembered from a High School History Class...a LOOOONG time ago!
The issue here, in my opinion, is that this exercise was being used on these kids as a figurative cudgel against what liberal educators view as a jingoistic American view of preferential treatment of our own flag and national symbols over those of any other country.
My hypothesis on the actions of the educators fits perfectly with the fact that most Liberals subscribe to the concept of Cultural Relativism. They see absolutly no reason why the USA should be considered any better or superior to, say, a country like Angola, Rwanda or Mexico.
As such, I salute these kids for having the acumen to see through it and act.
No matter where you are, it is always polite to pay respects to the customs and symbols of that country, unless, of course, there are legitimate reasons not to observe them.
I can see where some would make the argument that this is one of those times. Granted, the "protest" by these kids seemed aimed more at the educators due to their exercise of this backhanded insult to the USA, and to the indoctrination in particular.
Your point about St. Patrick's is noted, but I think the aims of those people were a little different from the people who were organizing this.
Picking your battles is always something to be considered. I take my hat off to these gutsy kids, as long as they weren't being overtly rude in their protest.
Have you taken a moment to study punctuation yet?
LOL?
I will when you learn HTML!
Seriously...the dot-dot-dot came from my time working as a televison reporter...and we had to type for the teleprompter.
Not sure if they still do it...but it was a signal to the anchors to take a pause in their delivery.
Old habits die hard!
About what I'd expect from an education major. Obviously rode the short bus through college.
Walter Hines Page was a distant family relation of mine.
I have four books on " The Life and Letters of W. H. Page.
One small tidbit was Germany turning its keys to their embassy to him.
Please be aware that I NEVER said this wasn't a worthy item. I admit...I have seen too many parents use their kids for their own agendas.
I simply said that we should gird up for more important fights.
We can disagree on what those are. That's why I love this site!!!
Thank you for your wonderful, well-reasoned response. I agree with much that you have said.
I pinged that article earlier...do a keyword search on 'aliens' to find it and the comments...
I use the ellipsis constantly...I find it is very useful in conveying meaning and subtlety in this medium that can be very difficult sometimes to convey either one.
"We can disagree on what those are. That's why I love this site!!!"
Agreed! It is why I am a FR addict. You cannot get this type of discourse at places like DU, believe me.
Thanks for your kind words. Details like that are what keep us from becoming lunatics like "The Other Place"...:)
LOL! Back in the old days (earlier in my career), we had to type out copy on typewriters that had BIG TYPE. The stories were on 3-copy pages. We split the pages...one for the director...one for the anchor...and one for the teleprompter.
The teleprompter, in those days, was a conveyor belt. You would lay the copy out, overlapping the pages. A LOT of the time, the conveyor would jam...with hysterical results!!
The anchor would see the pages all jammed together and say something like, "The weather this weekend looks rainy...and he was found in the back of the convenience store."
Try again. I live in Texas. You're just batting zero tonight.
Tragically, this isn't far off. Our children will see it in their lifetime. (Check local elected officials, state reps, and a gov or two in the CA, TX, AZ, NM areas.)
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