I have no problem with it. We did it in both my French and Spanish classes when I was in high school in the 70s. Of course the anthem was of Spain not Mexico. And as far as I know, they most likely still do it, as the foreign language requirements for that HS haven't changed in all these years.
Back then I took French. One class assignment was to translate La Marseillaise, the French national anthem.
That was in 1972! I briefly had an idea to through down an imaginary French rifle while reciting it, but Madame LeBoeuf would have had my head! She was much more Teutonic than Gallic!
Interesting - thank you for the input! I guess my own experience in foreign language class was a bit different than most. The only song I can ever remember singing in French class was “Alouette.”
I guess what bugs me about the incident in the story is that it feels like the instructor in question may have an agenda other than education in her lesson plan. An alternate assignment of reporting on the independence of Mexico seems awfully political to me. Especially since there are so many other Latin American countries where Spanish is the predominant language.
Just MHO, of course. I’ve been wrong before, and probably will be again in the very near future. :-)