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Remembering 9/11/01

Remembering 9/11/01
Tomorrow marks the 8th anniversary of the brutal terrorist attacks which shocked our nation. Who can forget the images of hijacked airliners crashing into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania? We remember the images of the brave firefighters, police officers and safety personnel running into the burning buildings to save the lives of others, never returning to their own families and loved ones.
The series of coordinated suicide attacks by 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists killed 2,993 people.The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including people from over 90 foreign countries.
It is imperative that we not only remember that fateful day forever, but teach our children about it as well. Fox News reported that there is a new program that will teach students about 9/11. September 11th family members (those who lost loved ones in the attacks) and college professors have unveiled a plan to teach junior and senior high school students about the 2001 terrorist attacks. The 9/11 curriculum was announced Tuesday in New York City, and will be taught in pilot programs this year in California, among other states.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was among those interviewed by the educators who developed the curriculum. Giuliani said that the curriculum can help students to think critically about the attacks as both a historical event and one that shapes the present, noting the continued threat of terrorism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mayor Giuliani says there is a natural tendency to forget the events as the years pass.
But he says the threat of terrorism still exists, and it’s important for children to develop an understanding of 9/11. He says this curriculum offers a sensitive way to do that.
The curriculum is taught through videos, lessons, and interactive exercises, including one that requires students to use Google Earth software to map global terrorist activity.
One of the main goals is to help students entering middle and high school that may have been too young to have strong memories of the attacks, to develop a tangible connection to what happened.
“In a few years, we will be teaching students who were not even alive at the time of the attacks,” said Anthony Gardner, the executive director of the Sept. 11 Education Trust. “We’re not sugarcoating the event,” said Gardner, whose brother died in the World Trade Center. “We’ve included images that are challenging.”
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