Today’s students don’t have memories from that day but have heard about it all their lives, and that’s bound to lead to questions, says Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University professor who researches social media and the internet. If they aren’t given factual information that helps them understand what happened and why, untruths can fill the void.
Longtime history teacher Kathy Durham uses 9/11 to teach her high schoolers in rural West Wendover, Nevada, about perspectives and primary sources, looking at documentaries and old news coverage and requiring them to talk to adults who remember that day. Some schools teach about 9/11 around the anniversary, briefly discuss it in contemporary history classes or incorporate resources offered by the memorial, the government, nonprofits or teachers unions. Often the approach is up to the educator, even in states where education standards require it for certain grades or classes.
It’s important, Gardner says, that students hear about those who died, the aftermath, related deaths that came later, and the lessons learned.Corey Winchester, a high school history teacher in Evanston, Illinois, tries to teach about Sept. 11 not as just a moment in time but “something that we’re still interacting with” and a lesson about perspectives. That means he might make connections to it while teaching about internment of Japanese-Americans or the Vietnam War, he says.
kantele10 DavidKlepper True: 19 Muslims, 15 Saudi Arabian, flew hijacked planes into American buildings. There were many public expressions of support in Muslim communities around the world. Most news media, teachers, politicians, documentaries will have some problem saying it. FakeNewsHypocrisy