International pledge of allegiance causes controversy for many Americans
There is a public school by the name of PS75 in New York City that has taken it upon themselves to change the pledge of allegiance, we Americans have recited since our first days of schooling. PS75 teaches in English and Spanish because many of the students speak both languages. PS75 is a very globally diverse school compared to the rest of the nation, yet PS75 is still receiving backlash for putting the flag up for auction on Biddingforgood.com, but the post for the flag and its description were removed shortly after because of the opposition toward the kindergarteners international flag.
The American flag that the kindergartners created has the flags of Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico etc. amounting to 22 nations total. Some critics say that this is an act of treason by the school officials because it desecrates the American flag. Sean Hannity from “The Sean Hannity Show” went off about how he thought our youth is indoctrinated by left-wing ideas. I think the teachers were simply trying to teach acceptance, but in a world where political correctness is necessary many Americans are agreeing with his outrageous claims.
We are in living in a globalized society and with the advance of technology we have the access to learning about new cultures and societies we should embrace global citizenry. I asked fellow kindergarten teacher Donna Hasler of the Baltimore County Public School System what her take was on the controversy, she stated that, “A project like the international flag could be used to teach students about foreign cultures, acceptance, and tolerance that could create learning opportunities for my students”. I personally agree with Donna, and I think we should’t accuse PS75 of promoting their “liberal indoctrination” tactics because they are simply educating their students about globalism and helping these kids actually learn more about globalism at a young age. I think it would have a positive effect on the education system as a whole in the United States because we clearly are lagging beyond countries like South Korea who have the best education system currently in the world. As an International Business major at Champlain College I feel that globalization should be taught to students as early as possible because the last time I checked the United States is globalizing at an unprecedented rate, and our education should be adapting to these changes.
The United States ranks 14th in education… It is probably time to switch things up a bit. By 2016 you think that the United States Public Schools and public opinion would be able to tolerate teaching their students about building a global community along with learning about their own nation. Americans we need to meet somewhere in the middle. We need to create an environment where all feel welcomed and where we can make our United States united once again.
PS75 school official and students have faced bomb threats and shooting threats the last couple days since their auction post. These are kindergarteners and school educators and administrators, not radical extremists. We should be teaching our youth about multi-culturalism (the notion that all cultures are equally valid).
Ban Ki-Moon is the Secretary General of the United Nations. Ki-Moon believes that his organization is the parliament for humanity, hope, peace, security, and sustenance to the world. Why don’t we take his lead America? We should be using our resources to teach students to be better global citizens.
Bohemian Wanderlust 