article_snippet: A school in New York sought to celebrate "National Foreign Language Week" by having the pledge of allegiance read in a different language every day.  
article_snippet: And, there are perennial stories about "Americans" offended by a Spanish recitation of the pledge.
article_snippet: Because of the outcry, Pine Bush students will now not hear the pledge in Italian, Spanish, Japanese, or French, as planned.
article_snippet: The intention was to promote the fact that those who speak a language other than English still pledge to salute this great country.
article_snippet: And the very inspiration for this column, a debate over the pledge of allegiance, makes the problem even more glaring.  
article_snippet: A rote and thought-free-chant of mindless allegiance can't even be expressed in a different language?  
article_snippet: Is America really so fragile that if a citizen proclaims "fidelità agli Stati Uniti" that it means anything less because it is in Italian?
article_snippet: Perhaps a good place to do that would be by doing away with the pledge of allegiance itself.
article_snippet: Perhaps if we pledged to uphold the Constitution, instead of a piece of cloth, we would be reminded of what really built this nation -- the Spirit of the Enlightenment.
highlights_snippet: NY school district canceled NY school district experiment with the Pledge for "National Foreign Language Week"
  Marc Randazza says the outcry over an Arabic version was a triumph of ignorance over education .