A portion of my work duties consists of guiding groups around downtown Indianapolis’s Historic District, which is replete with war memorials and monuments honoring those who’ve perished while fighting to defend our freedom. While many of the groups are veterans themselves, the preponderance are schoolchildren. And as the years have gone by, I have noticed that when we heed attention to the 9/11 tributes and stories, fewer of them remember that horrific day that’s etched in our memories just as Pearl Harbor is to many our parents and grandparents.
Thanks to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s lead, a new curriculum is being introduced in public schools to students. Beginning earlier this month in seven states, this course is aimed at teaching children about the events of September 11. Not only are the lessons even-handed (only some 9-11 Truther nutjobs oppose) , they’re imperative, and very much overdue, as we proceed forward into the next phase of our post-9/11 world.
“This is one of the critical subjects on which young people should develop some ideas and thoughts,” Giuliani said. “They’re going to have to live with this for quite some time.”
On Sept.. 11, 2001, I was living in Los Angeles, and awoke to reports that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Driving to the school where I taught, I received updates and details from radio reports. An hour later, I was trying to explain the incomprehensible to 33 4th and 5th graders.
During the morning assembly our left-wing affirmative action assistant principal opted to deem what happened a “tragedy,” not an attack, and spoke of those who “lost their lives” instead of those who were murdered. Teachers nodded, I fumed. While no one yet knew who had taken control of those planes, it was immediately clear to all that the nation was under attack…I think.
Looking back on that day eight years later, I can’t help but wonder how teachers discuss the anniversary in their classrooms. (That’s assuming they mention it at all – they didn’t at my cousin’s high school in Columbus and I know universities never do.) In many ways, their challenge is greater than mine was, as most elementary and middle school students today have no memory of this day that changed America. Some teachers will assure that as well.
We now all know that 19 radical Islamists hijacked four airliners that fateful Tuesday morning, with the intention of slaughtering as many innocent Americans as possible. We also realize that terrorists are not hesitant about slaughtering children or the mentally handicapped to further their goals. Are some educators doing the next generation more damage by shielding them from the reality that the Western world faces ruthless enemies? Are there basic facts that even children should know about the war that has been waged against us by such evildoers?
This new curricula will assist in these areas. Its intention is to give young people a framework to think about 9/11, all that it meant then, and most importantly, all that it means to the present and future.
“We’re not sugarcoating the event,“ said Michael Gardner, director of the Sept. 11 Education Trust, a non-profit group of victims’ families and survivors, spearheading this initiative. “We’ve included images that are challenging.“
The curriculum requires students to use Google Earth software to map global terrorist activity. While that may seem intense, it’s clearly better than prior alternatives. In England for example, where Jews are faced with daily anti-Semitism, the British Broadcasting Corporation explained the sixth anniversary of 9/11 to children this way:
“The way America has got involved in conflicts in regions like the Middle East has made some people very angry, including a group called al-Qaeda – who are widely thought to have been behind the attacks. In the past, al-Qaeda leaders have declared a holy war – called a jihad – against the US. As part of this jihad, al-Qaeda members believe attacking US targets is something they should do.“
The BBC took down the heinously politically correct page amidst a barrage of criticism. The damage, of course, was done, as there’s no way a child could read these despicably misleading lies and not believe America deserved to be attacked. It further amused me how in their faux analysis, the BBC described al-Qaeda as a “group,” innocuous as a little league team it’d seem, that was minding its own business until America overstepped its bounds.
Aren’t there are already enough children in the world today who believe that America and Israel are Big and Little Satan? Recall any United Nations Convention where issues of war and peace are obfuscated, and blame is placed on Israel and her allies by folks denying the Holocaust. Recall the scenes of Palestinian children and other rogue Muslims celebrating in the streets on September the 11th. Recall so much more, including America’s own naive, unwise 44th president.
Instead of such hatred and ignorance, I’d feel more confident about the future if our children remained fully aware that there are some really bad people intent on taking our way of life away. Yes, there’s a fine line between imploring children to fear all the evil in the world and simply being alert, but it’s quite another to imply that if only America would change its ways, bad people would disappear forever..
Thank goodness Indiana, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Kansas, New York and Alabama have wisely chosen the first step toward honest assessment and honoring the dead. Hopefully the other 43 states soon follow and educate their children about the first monumental moment of the 21st century.
Ari Kaufman
Related links:
http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2009/09/29/israeli-minister-barak-facing-arrest-in-england/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJbn-lUCh4
http://www.france24.com/en/20090519-human-rights-watch-denounces-taliban-use-human-shields-pakistan-swat
Opposition to curriculum from the “Truthers,“ Nader, McKinney, Sheen and other nutroots:
http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/09/09/a-new-911-curriculum/
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