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Only in America (Round 2)
the_exile
Kupo!
in Zocalo v2.0
[url]http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614&nav=EQlpWjof[/url]
Guess I won't be sharing my stories with anyone I know. :rolleyes:
Guess I won't be sharing my stories with anyone I know. :rolleyes:
Comments
[url]http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/display.htm?StoryID=39859[/url]
[QUOTE]IJAMSVILLE -- Controversy over The Pledge of Allegiance in public school usually stems from the term "under God," but one local mother has launched a new debate over the 31-word vow.
Noelle Tepper said problems began two months ago when her daughter, a seventh-grader at Windsor Knolls Middle School, complained the pledge was being recited in Spanish.
"My daughter came home and said they did it once, and she didn't know why," Ms. Tepper said. "To my knowledge, there was no announcement or explanation. She was very confused."
The middle school regularly televises morning announcements, including the pledge, by a student audio/video crew. Different classes are highlighted reciting the pledge, and one Spanish class offered to translate it.
The translation, broadcast to the entire school, was "offensive and disrespectful," according to Ms. Tepper.
The upset mother let it go the first time, but called Principal Mita Badshah after her daughter repeatedly complained that it was being re-aired week after week.
"She was not receptive," Ms. Tepper said. "She did not see anything wrong with this at all."
Calling it a way to "highlight the excellent achievement" of students in language classes, Ms. Badshah said there was never any intent to show disrespect to anyone.
In fact, the school planned to do the same thing with other language classes.
"I was astounded," said the principal. "I said, 'I'm sorry. I do not mean to offend anybody.'"
When no resolution was offered, Ms. Tepper talked with other parents and eventually went up the chain of command, e-mailing county commissioners and board of education members.
"I know for a fact that other parents called the school," Ms. Tepper said. "Our concerns, I felt, were not being taken seriously, so I went to the board and the commissioners."
In her e-mail sent Wednesday, Ms. Tepper called on both boards and school superintendent Linda Burgee to take action.
"I do not believe that this pledge should be up for interpretation," she wrote. "This is a SACRED oath. It is written in English ... I am offended to hear it any other way ... I urge you to put a stop to this. I'm afraid of what is next."
Almost immediately, she received support from Commissioner Mike Cady and school board president Bonnie Borsa.
Mr. Cady called for the "immediate halt" to pledging allegiance in Spanish or any other foreign language. Ms. Borsa also responded by saying it was a "good decision" to put a stop to the practice.
But in an interview Friday afternoon, school board member Daryl Boffman, who champions multicultural issues, said he didn't understand what the big deal was.
"It's not like they're saying the pledge to another country's flag," he said, noting that he knew little of the situation. "I don't see where that could be wrong."
Ms. Badshah eventually did step down from her initial stance and has agreed to have her school recite the pledge in English from now on.
"We're going to discontinue that," she said in an interview Friday. "There's no rancor here. I think (Ms. Tepper) had a strong opinion ... It's a learning curve for everyone."
While the practice of pledging allegiance in Spanish no longer exists at Windsor Knolls, Ms. Tepper said she's not opposed to other cultural exercises using the language.
"I offered ideas," she said. "I didn't just call and say, 'You need to stop this,' boom! I offered some solutions."
One solution, she said, is to read the morning announcements in both English and Spanish. But the Pledge must be left alone.
"We are at war right now," Ms. Tepper said. "It's not even the right time to do something like this ... I never thought it would be resolved this quickly." [/QUOTE]
Because, after all, we all know that the US has declared war on Spain and Mexico. Those aren't Tacos - They're [i]Freedomos[/i].
I dunno...but LOTS of stupid stories like those here:
[url]http://www.zerointelligence.net/[/url]
Green!
Generally, conservatives want smaller class sizes, and a more personal approch, never mind the government peeps.
Theres a reason MOST homeschoolers are very conservative. And it's because the school system in America sucks.
so, that image is senceless. :D
Green
My point was that only a conservative Christian of the inbred Southern type would say "This is a SACRED oath. It is written in English ... I am offended to hear it any other way ... I urge you to put a stop to this. I'm afraid of what is next."
But, as I think about it, the soccer-mom liberals are pretty bad for the very same reason.
HA
[B]Fixed. :D
My point was that only a conservative Christian of the inbred Southern type would say "This is a SACRED oath. It is written in English ... I am offended to hear it any other way ... I urge you to put a stop to this. I'm afraid of what is next."
But, as I think about it, the soccer-mom liberals are pretty bad for the very same reason. [/B][/QUOTE]
well, as an ultra conservative christain, I say you can pledge alligance to the flag in any language you darn well please! :D
[quote]"We are at war right now," Ms. Tepper said.[/quote]
Yay, propaganda!
The minorities, beit Blacks, Hispanic, Gays, whatever, DO have more control.
However, generally speaking, Christians/religious groups have less to no say. We generally get laughed at for trying to practice the rights granted us, such as the right to pray in schools.
However it's IDIOTS like this girl that give us a bad name....
There was a time when it was important to it's citizens both established and new to learn it.
Sad days in my opinion...
You come to America to reap the benefits, the least you can do is make an effort to speak like one.
*sigh*
Jack: My impression was it was a spanish language class (as in class for learning spanish in), not a class taught in spanish. But then, the idea of teaching normal classes in another language than the national language seems pretty odd to me.
Green
Something is rotten there.
Last but not least, hell yes English is the national language of the United States
Countries NEED a national language as a hedge against instability and balkanization. Id like to challenge people to name one mutilingual state that isnt having some kind of obnoxious time holding togeather
Look at Canada the french speaking portion threaten to bolt the country on a moderatly routine basis.
China may be "multlingual" but because the oddities of the language they only have one written form (in mainland at least) And the "Putonghua" is recognized as the national language.
You come to America to reap the benefits, the least you can do is make an effort to speak like one.[/QUOTE]
But they were *not* Spaniards in America... and surely not out to "reap benefits". To my understanding, they were Americans learning and practising Spanish.
If an oath may not be translated... how about translating laws and treaties? I must confess to disliking the notion of considering negotiable documents "sacred" in any fashion.
I personally would not swear allegiance to any country... but I would likewise not obstruct others from doing it -- in any language they consider nice.
[B]Weird stuff....what is this pledge anyway? [/B][/QUOTE]
I am told that people in the United States have a custom of swearing such a pledge -- I think primarily in schools.
Since I am told it is completely voluntary, and considered a matter of pride instead of obligation... I won't criticize them for their habits.
But on personal level... I cannot help remembering that the last pledge I was expected to swear, but skipped... was for Oktyabryata (October Children, a semi-compulsory Soviet youth organization, inviting any kid with less orderly views to skip participating because of spite).
[B]I am told that people of the US have a custom of swearing such a pledge in school.
[/B][/QUOTE]
I got that much from the text that it's a pleadge they swear in school, but what is it about? I swear to be kind and work hard in school...or something?
Here is a concise history:
[url]http://history.vineyard.net/pledge.htm[/url]
[B]English is the national language of the USA.[/B][/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_lang.html]No, it isn't.[/url] And don't you say, "I said 'national,' not 'official.' " The upshot is still the same: English what we speak here, and Lady Liberty doesn't have the time or the dime for anyone who acts otherwise.
Personally, I'm against the national endorsement of any language, especially in a nation as open to immigration as the United States. Really, I don't see what the big deal is about people who come and don't know the language. The problem will go away on its own in a generation or two, just like it did in, say, New York, in places like Little Italy. The adults who are set in their ways (and really, if you had to emigrate to, for example, Germany with nothing but the clothes on your back, would you rather live in a neighborhood of other English-speaking people, or go to the trouble to learn the language so you can get insulted behind your back by unkind natives for your ridiculous accent and your misbegotten countrymen taking jobs and resources from Proper Germans)... sorry, lost my train of thought.
The adults who are set in their ways stay in Little Italy, or Chinatown, or wherever, and they send their kids off to the english schools. They get to speak the old language at home, but still know english, probably better than their parents. Then they leave the nest and their eventual children speak only English and resent their parents for not giving them more culture. Everybody's happy!
Living in Miami, I get a lot of crap from people who don't when I mention my home. Most of it is a result of [i]Miami Vice[/i], but a good amount are people who, apparently, changed planes at the Airport once, wandered into town and had the misfortune to end up in Little Havana or something. They walk away convinced that the entire city of three and a half million people is composed entirely of spanish-speaking Cuban immigrants who arrived on rafts and are slowly plotting to take over the country from the english majority. I'm especially irritated when the people saying this have thick New York accents, indicating that their grandparents probably made their living running a small shop catering to other people from the Old Country, knowing that it was their children, and not them, who'd "reap the benefits" of America. Again, anyone expecting first-generation immigrants to jump whole-heartedly into the country, learning the language and then opening a multinational corporation, is going to be disappointed, repeatedly and consistently.
Of course, my perspective may be distorted because I've spent my whole life surrounded by second- and third-generation immigrants. Perhaps if I didn't see the end result, I'd be less charitable. As it is, though, I can only see statements like, "You come to America to reap the benefits, the least you can do is make an effort to speak like one," as the latest version of, "No Irish need apply," and the like.
EDIT: While I was writing the above, a few more posts were made. One I want to take care of right now was[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Tyvar [/i]
[B] Countries NEED a national language as a hedge against instability and balkanization. Id like to challenge people to name one mutilingual state that isnt having some kind of obnoxious time holding togeather[/B][/QUOTE]
Switzerland and the Netherlands. There are two. I'd also consider areas of the United States multilingual (such as Miami, New York, and most other port cities), but I can't honestly call them stable.
Countries NEED a national language as a hedge against instability and balkanization.[/QUOTE]
Ironically enough, Serbs, Croats and Bosnians pretty much share a language -- only some words differ, and even if Serbian is preferably written in Cyrillic, it *can* be written in Latin alphabet.
Oops, I just noticed the first post.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by the_exile [/i]
Guess I won't be sharing my stories with anyone I know. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE]
Fairly strange. I want an extract of his writings! Only my own eyes can bring conclusion... on whether it was a story of fiction... or a plan of harming people.
If depicting human failures, including war -- which could be employed to benefit real war -- should be banned... then likewise should history be banned (depicting past wars, and which tactics have worked or failed).
And likewise should news reporting be banned -- after all, it informs people of which tactics are being pursued in current conflicts, and trained for/against by current military forces.
I should complete my story for my own enjoyment... and really refine the part which speculates on how Shadow ships might be built. Then, I should publish it though an uncensorable anonymous network... and anonymously inform the relevant authorties that law is being violated. The resulting dilemma will surely test their efficiency. :p
green
[B][url=http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_lang.html]No, it isn't.[/url] And don't you say, "I said 'national,' not 'official.' "
[/B][/QUOTE]
Ha! You don't get to tell me what I can say or not... ;)
And I did say National, so there...
:D
Bottom line, Our Constituion, our Laws, etc are written in English, not Klingon or Spanish. Albeit a rather nasty legal dialect of it, but English non the less...
I'm waiting for the day when a bill or law is written in Ibonics for example, and is accepted. That'll be an interesting day.
As to Sign Language, that doesn't even apply. That's apples and oranges. And sign language relies heavily on English principles.
It's a spray that you spray in someone's face when they attack you to temporarily blind them... it burns like hell if you get it in your eyes.
[B]Bottom line, Our Constituion, our Laws, etc are written in English, not Klingon or Spanish. Albeit a rather nasty legal dialect of it, but English non the less...
I'm waiting for the day when a bill or law is written in Ibonics for example, and is accepted. That'll be an interesting day.[/quote][/b]
I'm not saying I want that to happen. I'm not even saying that it should. I do, however, appreciate the option. I mean, we don't speak the same English George Washington and Thomas Jefferson spoke, and I'm eagerly awaiting laws or bills written in plain English are submitted as a matter of course, sans all the legalistic mumbo-jumbo that makes my eyes bleed when I try to read too much of it. ;)
Much the same, if there's a large-scale lingual shift (don't ask me why), the flexibility offered by not having an official language might come in handy.