U.S. Students Made To Recite Mexican Pledge Of Allegiance

I went to school in Mexico, from the third grade through to the ninth, and I don’t remember reciting the pledge of allegiance to the Mexican flag, ever.

So I was curious about a controversy that broke out when a student in McAllen, Texas, refused to recite the Mexican pledge in school as part of her Spanish class. The student, 15 year-old Brenda Brinstion, recorded part of the class; the recording made its way to local television news and from there to national publications and eventually to (as you’d expect) AM Radio talk shows. You can follow the progression from incident, to news story, to controversy; from curriculum, to lesson plan, to alleged indoctrination.

I was incensed.

Six years in school in Mexico and I never learned the Mexican pledge – how dare they. I did a quick Google search and found nada. I don’t know how that pledge goes. Now, a point of clarification, I got good grades those years, I went to school every day (almost), so I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss school the day they taught the pledge, and I’m sure I didn’t doze off at my desk.

So what gives?

The class in question was about learning Mexican culture and heritage, it being the end of Hispanic heritage month and all. If you see the video that young Brenda recorded, you see awkward 15 year old’s stumbling through the verses and a teacher, Reyna Santos, trying to lead her class. Brenda’s Dad, William Brindson, saw indoctrination. He was interviewed on the Glenn Beck radio program and the controversy spread like wildfire through, as the New York Times put it, “conservative and Tea Party Web sites.”

The McAllen School District issued a statement in defense of the class, published in the McAllen Monitor:

 “This was a single lesson, not an indoctrination,” the statement said. The children in the school also recite the American pledge of allegiance each morning, the paper reported.

It was a one-time thing, not something repeated daily; the difference between a class and an indoctrination. Also, there is no context to this story. What else did the teacher do in reference to having her students memorize and recite the pledge and national anthem? Was there historical context? A language, vocabulary and grammar lesson that accompanied the memorizing? Was there anti-american sentiment? The controversy limits itself to the act of reciting the pledge, but doesn’t consider how it applies to a language and culture lesson.

I just don’t see the threat. Next thing you know they’ll be banning Spanish classes because they’re subversive.

I’d still like to see the famous pledge, just out of curiosity.