Student Chastised For Being An American

Why son refused to stand

I am the father of the young man who did not stand for the singing of the Mexican national anthem during a cultural awareness program at Larkin High School.

I have been constantly asked to explain the details of the event, and it is in response to these individuals that I offer the following facts.

Some of the students, my son included, were compelled to attend this assembly. The Mexican national anthem was printed on fliers and handed out to the attending students. The Mexican flag was marched in and placed on a podium by itself. The attendees were then asked to stand and sing the Mexican national anthem.

My son was not alone in his refusal to stand. Statements given to me by other youths and parents put the number of refusals at close to 20.

Larkin staff members immediately confronted the seated youth. Some of the students were threatened with in-school suspension; most of the seated students were intimidated into standing.

My son explained to the angry teacher who confronted him that he did not see a U.S. flag on the podium and he did not believe they were going to sing our national anthem. This teacher stated, "They have to stand for our national anthem, so you have to stand for theirs."

My son stated in response, "Yeah, but they're in our country."

The teacher called my son a punk and sent him to the office. The administrator in the office supported the teacher's demand and told my son that he could have made a more intelligent decision. My son was not formally disciplined. The teacher who confronted my son defended her actions to her students during class the following week.

I called Larkin principal Richard Webb to express my disappointment and concern. I described the manner in which my son had been treated. I was told that my son should have stood and that the school stood by its right to have this assembly in its chosen form.

I then exercised my right as a citizen and addressed the school board.

The press was present at the board meeting and media awareness snowballed from that point forward. Some of my statements to the board included, "I am disappointed that those responsible for creating an assembly intended to educate and sensitize Americans also felt free to act insensitively with regard to our culture. It is permissible to present another country's anthem alongside ours and receive standing respect. It is not reasonable to expect or demand that Americans stand and display respect for another flag and country in absence of the American anthem or flag."

I also asked the board to consider two positive actions. "First, encourage Larkin High School administrators to not underscore one culture to the exclusion of others. This ill-conceived mandatory assembly did nothing but widen the current schism. Second, I would ask the board to lay down some principles for future assemblies. While it is good educational practice to teach about other cultures, it is not an acceptable practice to require mandatory response to the patriotic elements of those cultures."

I was appalled by Webb's printed statement. Apologizing only for the "unfortunate spotlight" placed on the school does not acknowledge the process that brought the spotlight. Lack of proper oversight created an assembly that offended a large number of people. Teachers behaving badly guaranteed parental follow-through. Administrative silence and denial has perpetuated their arrogant image.

Trivializing the incident and belittling those it concerned has only confirmed Webb's lack of grounding with the community.

Since Dec. 8, 2004, educational institutions receiving federal funding are required to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution on Sept. 17 of each year. This year, Sept. 17 fell on a Saturday.

Our high school apparently chose on Sept. 16 not to hold an assembly on the Constitution of the United States, but to educate our youth on the patriotic elements of another country.


- Bedard is an Elgin resident.

webb_r/lhs@dns.u46.k12.il.us.

this is the email of that pussy principal. Below is the email I sent.

Dear Mr. Webb:

Are you the misguided idiot that supported the Mexico anthem fiasco that I recently read about? Shame on you! If you are so god damn hot for that shithole country why don't you move there? I think you, and your morons (staff) should be ran out of town after a public humiliation. Mexico is a corrupt, filthy cess pool that is overflowing into the United States. How dare you compell an American to stand for their fucking anthem. I have read some disgusting stories about teachers, but this is the worst, as it borders on treason.

Have a fucking nice day.

Those teachers need to go back to school.

I congratulate the kid on having a backbone.

On the other hand, >>2 is an idiot.

The kid, his father and >>1-4 are patriotic idiots, which is a redundant, but bears pointing out since some people still haven't figured it out.

Personally, I'd prefer it if nobody stood for any flag, but until that day arrives, we'll have to make do with civility. The teachers wanted to immerse their students in another country's culture -- FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, FOR THE PERIOD OF ONE GODDAMNED ASSEMBLY. It is entirely innappropriate to demand that displays of US patriotism should be given equal time. The father is apparently under the impression that there is a schism between Mexico and the US. Yeah, and I guess the teachers at this Illinois high school are Mexican secret agents.

The duo's displays of puerile chauvinism should be a source of shame for Larkin High School.

>>5
The duo's displays of puerile chauvinism should be a source of shame for Larkin High School.

Shit, that wasn't very clear. Let me restate. Larkin High School should be ashamed to have to deal with these two morons.

>>5/6

Eat shit and die.

>>7


EAT SHIT AND DIE

>>5
...

someone's supporting political correctness?

>>1 My son stated in response, "Yeah, but they're in our country."


But most of the US is thier land that we stole from them, and then kicked them off of it without any kind of condolence.

The american land belongs to america as much as stolen goods belong to criminals.

>>10
you are an idiot. the land was not stolen. it was won in a legal and legimate war.

>>10
England doesn't belong to the English because the English stole it from the animals, trees, and neandertals that used to live there.

>>1
This is laughable.

Hardcore nationalism is ruining the image of the U.S. abroad.  Where do you think the stereotype of the "American pig/slob" comes from?  Americans go into other peoples' countries with little to no regard for their society or culture, expecting people to treat them like they were royalty or something.  Sometimes they're just criticized, like in the case of the French, sometimes they meet physical opposition, like in the case of the Iraqis.  American assholes go to other countries and don't obey their laws and get put in jail, treating the U.S.' clout around the globe as some kind of blank check to cause trouble, expecting the American government to get them out of jail whenever they do something wrong in another country, whether or not it's illegal in the U.S. as well or not.

Surges of nationalism in any country are usually degrading to their image throughout the world.  Just look at Germany.  They're still trying to save their image from the last time nationalism reared it's head in their country.  The U.S. is going to have to endure years of ridicule long after this current administration leaves office, because of the way it's conducted it's jingoist global policy over these past years.

>>5
Lol politically correct fag

Idiots like these two treat their American citizenship as some kind of birthright privilege.  They're probably just a bunch of trailer trash who think that because they're Americans, they're somehow are better than everyone else and deserve to be worshipped by those of other countries.

Mexican immigrants are glad to take jobs in the United States as fruit pickers/housekeepers/gardeners/etc., and unlike some of these American hicks, don't believe these occupations to be below them somehow.  And rather than spend their hard-earned paycheck at Wal-Mart on pork rinds and a plasma screen to watch Nascar, they save it or send some of it back to their families in Mexico.  They are truly taking advantage of the opportunity that is given to people in the United States.

Yet rednecks like to complain about how Mexicans are "ruining their country" and taking their jobs.  Their complaints might matter a little more to more informed people if they had actually gone out and made a point to compete with these Mexicans for these jobs, rather than sit there and think they're above those jobs while collecting their welfare check for themselves, their wife, and their five cats that they claim as kids, cheating a system that was established to help Americans by the liberals that they claim to hate so much.  Until then, nobody who knows anything gives a damn what they think, except for those of their own ilk.

>>15
you're retarded

mexicans need to go.

Mexicans are here to stay, but you are on the way out. Your time is over.

If it weren't for a Mexican, we wouldn't have 4chan, world4ch, and this board

>>16
Hey Cletus, Aunt Wilma is waiting for you in the trailer.  She wants her depends changed and her toe callous scraped.

>>20
haha. can't stand your white trash parents so much that you have to insult random people on the internet what you want to say to them?

I will stand for the Mexican National Anthem when they stand for the United States'.

Also, in responce to #15:
The problem is that Mexicans are entering the US illeagaly and then not paying taxes and using publlic services. They may be doing jobs that I don't want to do but they are getting paid more than you think for them.

As for #13:
It is ok to be pro-Homosexual, pro-Peace, pro-Liberal but it is not ok to be pro-Amercian?
That is a load of crap! It is people that are ashamed to be Americans that are causing the loss of the American Identity.

What is "American Identity"?  All I know is that the current "American Identity" is something that many Americans are not particularly fond of being associated with. 

The whole torture issue is being fought for the sole purpose of preserving what's left of our good reputation throughout the world.  I guess that would be considered out identity as a fair and just nation that treats both friend and foe as people.

In my opinion, being pro-American should include being tolerant and respectful of other people's cultures, as well as being able to admit one's mistakes as a collective nation.  What if every nation whose ever made mistakes/oppressed others told their people that it was ruining their identities if they admitted that they were wrong.

But anyone's whose been though high school and/or college knows that what could be considered some form of "American Identity" (AKA U.S. History) is a required subject if you want to graduate.  It's sole purpose is to understand both the accomplishments/mistakes that we have made as a nation, in efforts to replicate the accomplishments, and to make sure that we don't repeat these mistakes that we can so easily observe with our 20/20 hindsight.

>>23 should include being tolerant and respectful of other people's cultures

And lose our own....  Oh well, it's inferior white guy culutre anyway. 

I don't see why we should have to accept another culture crowding out our own.  They have their own countries in which to practice theirs. 

I guess it's just standard evolution though.  This crap is happening all the time.

Fuck everybudy else!  America is the graetests cultore of them all!  We will ruel the world one of these days!  Are Cristian Nation will be guided by God to give the world American morel value and the Bible.

Our Americans Idenity makes us rigt, fuck them.  We'll just nuke them to the stone age if they don't liek it.  Damn those Franch LIEberals, as Sean Hannity likes to call them.  Peace is shit.  We will make our graet Cristian Nation with are militery and nukes on the French.  After we find the nucular weapons from Sadam that he hid from Bush, we will send secret agents to France to spy on there smely countrey.

If you minorites don't like America and whites, then you can move to commy France.  When the pillgrums discovered America, guess what color they were.  THEY WERE WHITE.  We beat the minorite Indins because we are guided by God, and they fired sticks at us and tride to kill us with rocks and we had guns and swords and armer.  America is the graetest empire of the world, and all who don't think so FUCK YOU.

Are American Idenity is FUCK YOU, LIEberal hippy trash.  Go back to colege, with you're LIEberal proffesors and drink Starbuks.  Everybudy I know here in Misispi hates you LIEberal hippys.

>>24
RIGHT ON!  Show those hippys whos bos, those fuckers.

If you hippys think peace is so graet, then you can move with the Franch, losers.

You don't like me, a NASCAR loving, gun owning, God feering, Bush voting reel American, then we don't want you here in this countrey.

My American Idenity is to step on you America hating hippys.

Blow it out your ass. You really are not funny.

Why should I be tolerant and respectful of other peoples cultures when they live in the United States? Today, to be tolerant often means that if you are a white Christian in Amercia, you should shut up and not celibrate your traditions or culture. I have some news for everyone: America was founded by white Christians and for white Christians. This does not mean that no one but this group should be able to live in the US nor does it mean that whites are superior, nor should any other culture be allowed to exsist in the US, this means that when you come to the US you must adapt to OUR standards.
This is not MEXICO NORTH, this is an independent country with its own standards and traditions. When you come from another country and try to tell those native to the US that what they are doing is wrong and it offends you, I say tough. This is the United States and you need to adapt to the US, not the US adapting to you.

>>27
You keep thinking that, hippy LIEberal trash.  Go move with the Franch or Caneda, unAmerican.

God fucking damn it, why is it that the french don't get critisized for wanting to preserve THEIR culture?

Why is it that we seem to WANT to see our ways of life and our ways of looking at things, dysfunctional as you think they are, destroyed?

>>30

er-they do?

>>30,31
because amerika culture is not really a culture, amirite? because it is just capitalist not culture. because amerikan culture is exported so much that people don't really see it as a culture.

Every group of people have a "cultural identity", although the Amercian identity is hard to define, it is not the Mexican identity.

>>31
That's a problem of today's left. It's the same among the European leftards, who gladly say "fuck our culture", "racist whites suck", and "fuck god", but would kill you if you said "fuck culture XYZ", "racist blacks suck", or "fuck allah".

>>34
Not hard to define; American identity = puritan rednecks

>>1

Singing another culture's anthem will instantly transform your children into wetbacks who lounge around outside Home Depot. In fact, any kind of cultural awareness does this.

Solution? You need to live in an all-white, all-Christian society that withholds all knowledge of other races. Then you can live in the fear of God and His almighty word.

Oh, and you'll be a hick redneck shit. If your kids already think this way, you should be teaching them that it's OK to learn about other types of people. The world isn't white (I'm a white trash piece of shit, no nigger comments plz)

>>37
learning about other culture does not equal standing up and singing their national anthem to their flag.

Explain to us why standing up and singing a song is so frightening to you.

>>39
Explain to us why standing up and signing a song is the right thing, and how it helps learning a culture.