I've made my share of excuses over the years. Maybe you have too. Even with September 11th being a pivotal moment in my own life, these memories do not get passed on. I did have some reasoning…
My eldest was scared of flying, so teaching him about the 9/11 terror attacks was off the table. That was too much for my child with anxiety. He can’t handle that, and it’s my job to protect him.
Even professionally, I found ways to justify avoidance: I took the book on the Twin Towers off the library shelves at the school due to consistent parent complaints. Parents have a right to monitor their child's exposure to content, and it cannot be denied that the content is very scary.
But let’s be clear—these are just that—excuses. I am to blame, and you might be too. Heck we all are. We stopped teaching reality/ history at home and in the schools to protect our children. And 9/11 is just one example of the histories we've changed in the name of being more “kid-friendly.” Instead we have song a a narrative that kindness is in everyone’s hearts. That we all play by the rules of the sandbox.
But is that really true? No.
Is it in the best interests of children to live this lie? Hmmm...I would argue no.
History education has been declining for the last two decades, all under the mandate of “protecting the children,” or rather, what I’ve recently learning is “protecting SOME of the children.” In our attempt to shield young minds from the horrors of certain historical events, we’ve inadvertently simplified complex narratives or discarded them altogether in favor of more digestible, easier story.
The result? The most ignorant generation of all time.
Take September 11th, one of the most significant terror attacks on American soil—a monumental turning point in our national history. You'd think this critical date would be a staple in history classrooms across the nation like Pearl Harbor was for me. That our children would learn the implications of radicalized ideologies and the day when 1,000s of innocent American lives lost. But that is far from the case.
The last nationally participated survey on this topic was in 2017. Only 26 out of 50 states “covered” September 11th and we suspect that number has dropped much lower since 2017. Cheryl Duckworth, a professor of conflict resolution at Florida's Nova Southeastern University, noted that about 20 states who “covered” it, did it a “cursory way.” As Duckworth noted, “The narrative about September 11th that students are getting is really ahistorical.”
This intrigued me. I attempted to dig into the content being taught, which is challenging. With the decline of textbooks, it is more complicated as 71% of secondary school teachers now turn to online resources for teaching 9/11, making it nearly impossible to measure what's actually being taught in the classroom. I first turned to the National Council for the Social Studies and then the National September 11 Memorial & Museum for support, but neither track this data.
So.. I googled, which may not be the most scientific, but I would argue is the first step for 99% of the few teachers out there. I found thousands of free and paid websites of teacher resources on September 11th. The majority focused on the heroes of September 11th (the child friendly version), but I was also shocked by the abundance of lessons that were focused on Islamophobia. Websites like Teaching Tolerance and Learning for Justice are popular with teachers. Their lesson plans on 9/11 primarily focus on "which voices are being heard" and "which voices in the classroom are being ignored" with a real emphasis on how 9/11 impacted our citizens of Arabic and Middle Eastern heritage.
And I even found a not so small minority of lessons that had the word terrorism always in quotes (as in “terrorism”). Are these lessons questioning if terrorism is an appropriate title for that day. Huh? How is taking a bunch of innocent lives in a plane and flying them into buildings not terrorism?” Why would this be a “debated” word.
And while I have zero issue with these lessons being included, it was the hypocrisy of it all that stood out. As I have not ever seen the amount of concern for the “aggressor” when it comes to teaching other histories.
Curiously, when it comes to teaching about American slavery—we don’t see similar efforts to mitigate backlash for white students in the classroom, who like the Muslim students, have zero to do with the past. Slavery is depicted as white people enslaving black people, which is 100% the truth and a stain on our country’s history.
However, the idea of presenting the broader context of slavery is in these units is never entertained. When covering American slavery you will see no historical context that slavery had been a human practice for over 11,000 years, predating written records. All societies, not just Western ones, engaged in slavery, and notably, it was Western societies that took significant steps to end it.
It seems us educators are busy picking the children to protect.
As educators, we have a responsibility to provide our students with a balanced, nuanced view of history, preparing them for the complexities of the world. I would argue that our children’s comfort is not the aim of education. Avoiding discomfort does not protect our children; if anything, it disarms them, leaving them ill-equipped to navigate or understand the world they will inherit. Ignorance does not equate to safety; it guarantees that history will repeat itself.
And I would argue that we are seeing just that, history repeating itself.
The repercussions of diluting educational content are profound. A generation without a firm grasp of historical context cannot fully appreciate human experience in all its shades—dark and light alike. They are left with a skewed perception of reality, vulnerable to simplistic narratives that lack nuance.
Teaching hard truths isn’t about diminishing hope or fostering cynicism; it’s about cultivating resilience and understanding. It equips our students with the critical thinking skills necessary to discern fact from fiction, engage with diverse perspectives, and champion justice based on solid knowledge.
As we consider the state of our educational efforts, let us remember: the truest form of protection we can offer is robust education—an education that confronts the harsh realities of history and the complexities of the present head-on. We owe it to our children to provide them with the tools they need to build a more informed, just, and compassionate world. After all, if we don’t teach our children how to face the world as it is, who will?
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