MCALLEN, Texas (PNN) - October 17, 2011 - Students in a Texas public high school were made to stand up and recite the Mexican national anthem and Mexican pledge of allegiance as part of a Spanish class assignment, but the school district maintains there was nothing wrong with the lesson.
It happened last month in an intermediate Spanish class at Achieve Early College High School in McAllen, Texas - a city located about 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Wearing red, white and green, students had to memorize the Mexican anthem and pledge and stand up and recite them individually in front of the class.
That didn’t go over well with sophomore Brenda Brinsdon. The 15-year-old sat down and refused to participate.
“I just thought it was out of hand, I didn’t think it was right,” she said. “Reciting pledges to Mexico and being loyal to it has nothing to do with learning Spanish.”
She said she was particularly offended because the presentations in teacher Reyna Santos’ class took place during “Freedom Week,” the week after the 10th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and on U.S. Constitution Day - the same day as Mexico’s Independence Day.
“Why are we doing their independence when it‘s Freedom Week and it’s also Constitution Day?” Brinsdon asked.
Brinsdon said she complained to the school principal, Yvette Cavazo, who told her it was part of the curriculum and that she should participate. Her father, William, also got involved, calling the school district superintendent to complain.
When Brenda made clear she would not stand up and recite the pledge, she was given an alternative assignment: an essay on the history of the Mexican revolution.
Meanwhile, other students continued with their presentations, which took place over the course of several days.
When Brinsdon talked to Santos - a first-year teacher at Achieve - about her new assignment, the teacher told her she grew up in Mexico.
“She told me that she loved Mexico,” Brinsdon said.
School district spokesman, socialist Mark May, defended the presentations, saying it’s a state requirement for upper-level language classes to teach about foreign culture.