January 26, 2012

Girl punished for speaking Menominee

Using Menominee words at school gets girl benched

Diocese looking into incident

By Tiffany Wilbert
Parents of a child at Sacred Heart Catholic School are upset about the school's decision to bench the girl for "attitude issues" after she spoke a few words in the Menominee language at school.

The seventh-grader's mother, Tanaes Washinawatok, said her daughter, Miranda, was not allowed to play in the basketball game Jan. 19 after being reprimanded that day for using the Menominee language during a homeroom supervised by teacher Julie Gurta.

"A conversation was had between my daughter and two other Menominee children that go to school at Sacred Heart," Washinawatok said. "My daughter interpreted two words and then added one word; the words were hello, I love you, and thank you."

"The teacher came in and told my child, 'You are not to be speaking like that. How do I know you're not saying something bad and how would you like it if I spoke Polish and you didn't understand.'"
Comment:  The boarding-school mentality lives!

For more on the subject, see Language Whipped Out of Indians.

1 comment:

Rob said...

For more on the subject, see:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20120202/GPG0101/202020566/

Sacred Heart Catholic School principal apologizes for benching student who spoke Menominee

He kept student out of game after she spoke Menominee


Sacred Heart School Principal Dan Minter said Wednesday he made the decision to bench Washinawatok before he was completely aware of what had happened.

"It was breakdown in communication," he said. "It was very unfortunate and I do apologize. I wasn't aware that the Menominee language was involved. We plan to host cultural events, and hope to put a positive spin on it. There are things to be learned and ways to grow."