Middle school girls hoops player benched for a game for saying “I love you” in native language

[geardaddy]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/middle-school-girls-hoops-player-benched-game-saying-155532292.html

A unique language controversy has led to a wide ranging apology from the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay after a middle school girls basketball player at Shawano (Wisc.) Sacred Heart School was reprimanded in class and kept out of one of her team's games because she told her friends "I love you," in the tongue of her family's Native American tribe.

As reported by the Green Bay Post Gazette, Associated Press and Green Bay NBC affiliate WGBA, among other sources, Sacred Heart seventh grader Miranda Washinawatok was disciplined in class in front of her peers and then held out of a January basketball game because she had the temerity to tell two of her classmates "I love you," in the language native to the Menominee tribe, of which the Washinawatoks are a part.

When Washinawatok used the phrase in a class to two of her friends who she had taught it to, one of her teachers -- Julie Gurta -- reportedly threw her hands down on her table angrily and said that Washinawatok would not be allowed to speak in the Menominee language because doing so would keep the teacher from knowing what she was saying.

"She sort of threw her hands down on her desk and said don't be talking like that," Washinawatok told WGBA of her teacher's reaction to the Menominee language. "How would you like it if I started talking Polish?"

The point, of course, is that Washinawatok wouldn't stop her teacher from speaking in Polish if it didn't distract from class. Similarly, Washinawatok's mother, Tanaes Washinawatok, is lobbying for Gurta to be fired after a letter that allegedly served as an apology from Gurta instead read more as an accusation of Miranda Washinawatok's guilt.

"Unfortunately, the actions of your daughter were not brought to your attention as quickly as they should have been, and for this I apologize," Gurta wrote, according to the Post Gazette.

Meanwhile, assistant girls basketball coach Billie Jo DuQuaine, principal Dan Minter and the Green Bay diocese's director of education, Joseph Bound, all also offered up apologies to the Washinawatoks, all of which seem to have been well received, with the exception of Gurta's letter. The Green Bay diocese also issued a more broad apology to the entire Menominee nation on Tuesday.

"It is our hope that with greater awareness, we can begin to repair any harm that has been caused, and be able to build new and improved relationships," Bound wrote in the diocese's statement.

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Fuck that teacher.

[Justice wanted]

1. You know I really HATE this country. The Native American are some of the most beautiful dialects

to begin with BUT to be so freakin narrowminded...

[LeftinOH]

2. Native American students were once regularly punished for speaking

their own language; one would think that any modern-day teacher would be a little more sensitive about that sort of thing.

[geardaddy]

3. Exactly

The good news is everyone else involved are issuing apologies to the girl, her family, and the Menominee community at large.

[msongs]

4. catholic church has a well known history with native americans nt

[KamaAina]

5. Dear teacher: Jeb!

In Polish, that means not the ex-governor of Florida but an expletive often followed by "you" or "yourself".

[geardaddy]

6. ...

[KansDem]

7. They should always speak English!

They were a small band of warriors who created an unbreakable code from the ancient language of their people and changed the course of modern history.

Known as Navajo Code Talkers, they were young Navajo men who transmitted secret communications on the battlefields of WWII. At a time when America's best cryptographers were falling short, these modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history. They drew upon their proud warrior tradition to brave the dense jungles of Guadalcanal and the exposed beachheads of Iwo Jima. Serving with distinction in every major engagement of the Pacific theater from 1942-1945, their unbreakable code played a pivotal role in saving countless lives and hastening the war's end.

http://www.navajocodetalkers.org/

[REP]

8. I'm a little surprised Menominee language hadnt't been killed off already

Mission schools were pretty good at that.

[geardaddy]

13. Yep, they were

The language is endangered, but I'm glad to see a student that age who has an interest in her language.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus gyda llaw.

[REP]

17. Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus!

I've got a leek and a daffodil. I'll have to remember to show you what I wear on the 17th

[geardaddy]

18. lol

I was gonna make potato leek soup tonight, but I have class and am too lazy.

[REP]

21. Roast pork tenderloin with leeks

There, I gave you my recipe

[geardaddy]

25. Yum!

[hfojvt]

9. Does the teacher really speak Polish?

I can understand her concern. I once had a hispanic guy say something in Spanish to his friends about how stupid I was. I caught that much of the gist even though I didn't understand what he said. Unfortunately, I did not think to tell him "lociento, no habla espanol".

[MineralMan]

11. At a resort near Cancun,

I asked for a second cup of coffee at breakfast. The waiter walked over to another worker and said, "Mas cafe por el cabron." " More coffee for the ???" Now, that word, cabron, in Spanish can refer to a male goat or an asshole. Since I'm a guy with a full beard, I took it to mean the former. When the waiter returned with my coffee, Instead of saying "Gracias, "I said, "Baa-aa-aa" in a pretty good imitation of a goat bleating. The poor guy almost fell over, he laughed so hard. We got along great from that time on.

It's amazing that people often don't imagine that anyone might speak their native language.

[geardaddy]

12. But we all know when people speak other languages, they're really talking about us.

[hfojvt]

15. easy to be paranoid, especially if one is a teacher

In this case, he was asking me how much it cost to use the gym, and I was trying to figure out if he meant the weight room, or the basketball gym, and I also tried to explain that I didn't know all the prices. I am the janitor there, not the person who takes money for admission. After some mostly fruitless back and forth, he clearly said something to his companions about me. Something like "of course this janitor is a moron". You don't always have to know the language to understand what a person is talking about.

[geardaddy]

16. It's easy for paranoid people to be paranoid.

By definition paranoid people have an irrational fear of persecution. Sounds like the teacher was paranoid.

[hfojvt]

20. you say paranoia, I say perceptive

"The tragedy of parent-child relationships is that the parent is the child's friend and the child doesn't know it and the child is the parent's enemy and the parent doesn't know it." Haim Gainott

Although some of that may depend on the parent and on the child, but the same is generally true of the teacher-child relationship except that many teachers quickly learn where they stand with most of their students.

[geardaddy]

24. No, you said paranoid.

"easy to be paranoid, especially if one is a teacher"

[quakerboy]

22. I'm divided on this

The cultural aspect of it is particularly alarming, and terribly insensitive, given the past of catholic churches and native languages.

At the same time, if they were sending texts in class, (another form of communication that the teacher would not be able to intercept/interpret), would we be angry with the teacher? How does the teacher know what the student said to the other student?

[geardaddy]

23. I think it comes down to the teacher's reaction.

It was childish in my opinion:

She sort of threw her hands down on her desk and said don't be talking like that," Washinawatok told WGBA of her teacher's reaction to the Menominee language. "How would you like it if I started talking Polish?"

[quakerboy]

34. True

I can see that. Ive known enough teachers to know they don't always know what to do, and they don't always react idealy with the perfect answer.

In a perfect world, this would be a teaching opportunity, to use the student's example to teach something(even if only a snippet of language or culture). In a non-perfect world, I can see being exasperated and struggling for the correct response.

I dunno. It seems to me there is a lot of information lacking in the story that would keep me from taking a reflexive side in the issue. For instance, is it school policy to hold a student out of a game for a single minor incident? Assuming it is not, did this teacher overreach, or was there a series of other incidents that added up to result in being kept from playing one game? Did this teacher and student ever have issues before? Did this teacher have issues with other students, did this student have issues with other teachers? Was talking in class permitted and the teacher just took exception to the particular language use, or was it a silent period and the student was baiting the teacher by not only disrupting but doing so in a language not related to the class in any way?

So yeah. There's nowhere near enough information in the article to say what exactly happened or why. Teacher could be a dimwit or a racist. Student could be an angel or a disruptor. there is no background given.

[geardaddy]

35. All reasoned responses.

Thank you.

[hughee99]

10. Why is it the teachers business what she's saying anyway?

If the girl is speaking during class when she's not supposed to be, she should be in trouble regardless of the language she's using. When she's speaking out of class, in a private conversation, what right does the teacher have to eavesdrop (and therefore, why is it the teacher's business what language she uses)?

[jeff47]

14. She might be encouraging students to have gay abortions!!! (nt)

[geardaddy]

19. There's a local band here

called "Gay Witch Abortion"

[Johonny]

29. Teachers are often there own crowd control and security

they are expected to weigh into fights, monitor kids delinquency, try to correct students when they use fowl language etc...

I think in the big picture what the teacher did was totally wrong, but I do think most teachers are put in an authoritative position by society where it is important to "know" to the best of their ability what the kids they are in charge of are doing. If the student had said "let's jack martha beyond the school after class" instead of "I love you" and then they did do it. Everyone would be on the teacher for not responding and doing more. I'm pretty sure it is the teachers business to know what is going on around them by the student they are in charge of. It's also their business to not over reacted and behave like the children they are suppose to be in charge of.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. If She Didn't Know What She Was Saying. . .

. . .record it, have it translated by someone who knows the language, and if it was not offensive, disrepectful, or trheatening, no hard done.

If it was, then take the disciplinary route that would be taken if it were in English.

A little extra work? Yeah. But better than this reactionary nonsense.

Obviously the school agrees. Everyone has apologized.
GAC

[geardaddy]

27. Yes, nice solution.

[SpartanDem]

28. Why is this yahoo on this old news

I remember reading this on DU a month ago and the local news link is from feb 2

http://www.nbc26.com/news/local/138452384.html

[REP]

30. Probably because yesterday was a Welsh holiday (see all the Welsh up thread)

The Welsh at one time were not allowed to speak Welsh in their own country. School children who spoke Welsh at school were punished, usually by beatings.

[Enrique]

31. I had a friend that taught at a reservation in Wisconsin

he said the kids called him some word, they told him it meant "great white leader", but it actually meant something obscene like dick or something. My friend survived this, by the way.

[geardaddy]

32. Yeah, sounds like the teacher in the story has issues.

[catbyte]

33. I never saw my mother wear a bathing suit or a sleeveless dress

because she was self conscious of the scars she had on her back and arms from the beatings she took by the nuns when she slipped up and said something in Ojibwa or some other minor infraction of the rules. Mom passed on in 2006 and she would be so sad to see this today. What kind of a religion condones beating little girls until they bleed and still carry the scars 70 years later?

And people wonder why only 4% of Native Americans self-identify as Christians.


Diane
Anishinaabe in MI & proud of it