Only in America: Native tongue

A teacher punishes a Native American student for speaking a Native American language — and more in our collection of strange revelations about the nation

Native tongue
(Image credit: Pete Saloutos/CORBIS)

A Wisconsin seventh-grader was suspended from a school's basketball team for speaking a Native American language. Sacred Heart Catholic School in Shawano, Wis., is 60 percent Native American, yet when a teacher heard Miranda Washinawatok, 12, telling a friend how to say "I love you" in the Menominee tongue, the teacher angrily objected, saying, "How do I know you're not saying something bad?" The school has since apologized.

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