Constitution basics should be taught

Dolores Penrod, retired director of Portales’ Community Services Center, told me about a local high school student who was recently chastised for not standing and saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

According to Penrod, a teacher called the Hispanic child’s guardian, her aunt, to report the behavior.

The aunt, born in Mexico, has experienced her U.S. citizenship being questioned.

Penrod says the child, upset about the president’s statements about immigrants, was criticized for exercising her freedom of speech.

“I don’t think forcing her to stand and pledge allegiance was going to turn her into a patriot,” Penrod said.

“I was taught by my parents and teachers that in this country we do not pledge allegiance to a flag, a man, a woman, or a plot of dirt, but to a scrap of paper that is in danger of being ripped to shreds if we do not defend our right to free press, free speech, free beliefs and all of the things that are being attacked today,” Penrod said.

Getting universities to train teachers on constitutional basics is something Penrod would like to see.

She thinks that would help people understand why the U.S. has three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial) with checks and balances, and why the courts can overturn a president’s executive orders.

“If teachers knew more about the Constitution, this teacher might have told that child and her classmates they have a right to sit during the pledge,” Penrod said.

“Even though some may think she is being unpatriotic, many Americans are willing to fight to the death to defend that child’s right to protest.”

Although I was lucky as a Naval electronic spy in the South Pacific to avoid war, many service people have fought and died for our right to practice or not practice what some view as rote rituals versus critical thinking.

Penrod thinks parents and teachers should train children, rather than blindly following rituals or authority figures, to act on their conscience.

“I am so happy that International Women’s Day was observed by placing the statue of a little girl with her hands on her hips facing off against the Wall Street bull,” Penrod said.

“Long live little girls.”

Contact Wendel Sloan at [email protected]