Posted on 10/06/2005 3:42:32 PM PDT by Gator61
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A recent Mexican Independence Day assembly at Larkin High may have taken cultural sensitivity one step too far, a Larkin parent said this week.
Robert Bedard said his son was reprimanded when he declined to stand for the Mexican National Anthem during a ceremony at the west Elgin school last month.
His 17-year-old son, a senior in the process of enlisting, feared honoring another nation’s anthem might jeopardize his military status. Sitting down cost him a trip to the office.
Bedard questioned this week whether the scales of cultural diversity may have tilted out of balance.
“I am concerned that the Mexican Americans have unfairly monopolized the teaching of cultural awareness at this school,” said Bedard, a lieutenant with the Elgin fire department. “At least that’s the perspective of a parent. I’d love to be corrected.”
School leaders sought to do just that.
Just as Latino students orchestrated an assembly for Mexican Independence Day, officials said, black students host an assembly commemorating black history month in February.
“If we were teaching one culture’s history over another, then we have an issue,” school board President Ken Kaczynski said Wednesday. “But I don’t think that’s the case.”
The history lesson followed a maelstrom of controversy last spring when a Larkin student wrote an essay lamenting the celebration of Mexican holidays in American schools.
The teen faulted Mexican students, saying they shouldn’t have lowered the American flag in favor of a Mexican flag on Sept. 16, 2004.
Larkin officials later said the American flag was raised again before class began. No students ever were found responsible.
“Of the ethnic groups at Larkin,” Principal Richard Webb said, “the Hispanic group is growing at the most increased rate and of that Hispanic group, the vast majority of students are Mexican-American.”
Of the 2,550 students enrolled at Larkin last year, 38.4æpercent were Latino. Nearly a quarter of students were new to English. Information for the current school year is not yet available.
Four years earlier, 20 percent of the school’s 2,029 students were Latino, according to the 2000 school report card. Some 10 percent of students spoke English as a second language.
As the school grows more diverse, cultural assemblies will follow, Bedard said. But they should take care to represent a range of cultures, including the homegrown one.
“If they have an assembly, I would be happy if they will not try to force students to honor patriotic elements of another culture unless they also honor our flag, our anthem as well,” Bedard said. “It’s just respect for both cultures.”
Unf-ing believable. Words fail me.
Good man.
No, it's not bowing to anything. It's showing respect for a nation's flag and anthem. It is common courtesy, and the student was wrong. Hopefully he has rethought his position.
Thank God for the Catholic school system.
Thank God for the Catholic school system.
Last year, didn't Mexicans refuse to stand for our national anthem at a sports event? Seems I read it somewhere.
The same PC idiots who sent him to the office would defend his right in court to sit during the US anthem----if they even allow it to be played there anymore.
Diversity now means Latino-dominated? Give me a break.
Wait, this is in Illinois! Wow.
Heaven forbid we have children who actually think about their life beyond the next 15 minutes.
Before reading any further: This kid isn't too smart.
Hey, nimrod, here's an idea-- How about teaching the history and culture of the host country. Two of my daughters attended Japanese school in Japan. They learned a lot about Japanese history and culture. It didn't kill them. We taught them about American history and culture at home. We are now in America. They know more about some great American figures (such as Genral MacArthur) than their peers and less about others (such as Rosa Parks) but-- guess what-- they are still learning.
Exactly. It is simply good manners to stand. I can understand if the student was confused ... maybe, if he'd never been paying attention at a sporting event or any other occasion where another country's national anthem was played.
Whether the school system is overzealous in promoting "multiculturalism" is a totally different issue.
If kids can opt out of saying the Pledge, then they should be able to remain seated for any other thing they disagree with, including the Mexican Anthem. I'd tell the principal to kiss my chair shiner if I were him.
Last I checked, you don't have to say the Pledge for the US flag, and you have a "right" to burn it. So why does ANY other nation's flag get courtesy?
Go find a link and bring it back to us.
Edited to avoid offending those in the immigrant community.
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