USA08 September, 20263 min read
Teachers Meet at Flight 93 National Memorial as 40 States Require 9/11 Education
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About 40 states require or suggest 9/11 education in public schools. Teachers met three days at Flight 93 Memorial to discuss curriculum.
Teaching 9/11, unevenly
For three days this summer, teachers converged at the Flight 93 National Memorial in remote western Pennsylvania to talk about 9/11 and how best to educate a new generation about the attacks 25 years ago.
The Associated Press found that at least 40 U.S. states now expect or suggest that public schools address 9/11 in some way, but the provisions vary widely in scope, specificity and framing.
AP reported that state education standards range from detailed course content to broad concepts, and that as a result some do not specify what should be taught about Sept. 11.
AP said that a decade after the attacks, about 60% of states didn’t explicitly mention 9/11 in their education standards, but that there has been more movement toward teaching it as time passed and the attacks were seen as “a settled event,” according to University of Wisconsin education professor Jeremy Stoddard.
In one session at the memorial, Gordon Felt, whose brother Edward Felt died on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, told teachers, “Even worse than getting started wrong or using inappropriate language is the total omission of telling the story.”
Voices and classroom framing
AP reported that states differ not only in whether they mention 9/11 but also in how they frame it, including Alabama’s approach that fits Sept. 11 into “the United States’ military involvement in international conflicts since 1980” for students as young as fifth-graders.
AP said Texas has taught 9/11 and surrounding events as an example of “radical Islamic terrorism” and a key piece of modern history overall, while Colorado suggests high school students might analyze the aftermath of Sept. 11, including “Middle Eastern discrimination.”
In Texas, the State Board of Education approved an updated social studies curriculum that Muslims say discriminates against them, and the new standards require students to learn how “radical Islam” was the motivation behind the 9/11 attacks.
KABB reported that the annual San Antonio 110 “9/11 Memorial Climb” at the Tower of the Americas was postponed due to continued renovations at the venue, and organizers said they were still searching for a new location to host the climb.
In a session at the Flight 93 National Memorial, Gordon Felt said, “That’s our biggest fear,” as he described what victims’ families want students to be told about the dead.
Policy, controversy, and next steps
AP said 25 states have laws or education standards that require or expect public schools to provide instruction specifically on the Sept. 11 attacks, and another 13 have optional mentions of 9/11 in their education guidance.
AP added that several other states have laws requiring or recommending school observances, bringing the number of states with some policy to at least 40, and it said schools and teachers in states without specific laws or standards may choose on their own to discuss the attacks.
In Texas, the curriculum approved by the 15-member State Board of Education is set to go into effect during the 2030 school year, and Muslim advocacy groups pledged to work to “overturn” the social studies curriculum before then.
Houston Public Media reported that CAIR and its Texas chapter pledged to “overturn” the social studies curriculum and “protect teachers and students who refuse to teach it,” while the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the standards as providing a distorted image of Islam.
AP also reported that in Congress, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., has proposed a resolution encouraging all states to teach students about the attacks, as the anniversary arrives for a generation that did not live through the 2001 attacks.