was anything said yesterday to your kids about 9/11?

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher in a private school and I always show different clips or items about it. This year it was The man with the Red Bandana on Youtube. I know that some teachers set a timer for the exact moment that planes crashed in NYC, DC, and PA. Then they stop everything for a moment of silence each time.

[Anonymous]

Almost 3000 people in the US died in the 9/11 attacks and we mourn them and remember them.

But easily 3000 people are dying a week now from COVID in the US and we barely talk about them or mention their names.

Are we not horrified just because they aren't all dying in one building? Or because they are mostly old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get this— what is there to talk about? Do you want to discuss Pearl Harbor day too?

What is there to talk about?
The first responders
The ordinary heros
The way the country came together
The innocent lives lost
Show them the clip of President Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium shortly after the attacks
Talk about how the American flag was flying high all over the country
Discuss what you remember about the day, where you were when you heard about it, your fears etc.

You get the idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get this— what is there to talk about? Do you want to discuss Pearl Harbor day too?

What is there to talk about?
The first responders
The ordinary heros
The way the country came together
The innocent lives lost
Show them the clip of President Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium shortly after the attacks
Talk about how the American flag was flying high all over the country
Discuss what you remember about the day, where you were when you heard about it, your fears etc.

You get the idea.

I agree that all of this is worthy of discussion, as well as what it was like for Muslims and other brown people, how we ended up at war, and how that affected those countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get this— what is there to talk about? Do you want to discuss Pearl Harbor day too?

What is there to talk about?
The first responders
The ordinary heros
The way the country came together
The innocent lives lost
Show them the clip of President Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium shortly after the attacks
Talk about how the American flag was flying high all over the country
Discuss what you remember about the day, where you were when you heard about it, your fears etc.

You get the idea.

... show them the first bombs over Bagdhad and Colin Powell's speech asserting there were WMD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Almost 3000 people in the US died in the 9/11 attacks and we mourn them and remember them.

But easily 3000 people are dying a week now from COVID in the US and we barely talk about them or mention their names.

Are we not horrified just because they aren't all dying in one building? Or because they are mostly old?

People don’t care about COVID. Let’s talk about 9/11 like people talk about COVID and see how angry people get.
“Why should we care about 9/11 victims? More people die from the flu every year and we don’t have a day of remembrance for them.”
“Our economy was good before 9/11. More people die in car accidents every year. If we don’t fly, our airlines will go out of business and people will lose their jobs. All because you’re afraid of something that is statistically less likely to kill you than a car accident.”
“Grow up. Are you going to hide under your bed afraid of terrorism forever? I, for one, will be living my life.”
“A lot of those people had preexisting conditions. The data is skewed to create fear. Only 356 of those people actually died from terrorism. Many of them were obese so they couldn’t run down the stairs.”
Angry now?

[Anonymous]

No. I went to HS right across from the towers (just started 9th grade) and lived through it. Watched close friends live through it. I don't read or watch anything related to it and don't discuss it with my children. If they ask when they're older, I can point them to the right historical materials, but i don't need to relive that trauma or it's aftermath.

[Anonymous]

I struggle with this as a teacher. For years, I did whole lessons and talked about it and debriefed current events in connection to what happened. Kids could name where they were and what happened. Now, not only were kids not even alive, they were born close to a decade after it happened

At some point in time we stopped doing lessons on Pearl Harbor Day and D Day and V Day and to celebrate the Treat of Paris and so on..... I think 9/11 falls into that category. When we teach modern history and get to that moment, we talk about it. But no more specific lessons on the day.

[Anonymous]

No FCPS 2nd grader didn’t hear anything about it. But we don’t talk about it either at home either. My kid knows as much about 9/11 as she does Pearl Harbor which is zero. I don’t see the need to tell her about either right now.

[Anonymous]

Sat next to my 3rd grader all day. Not a peep.

No real instruction on day 3 either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get this— what is there to talk about? Do you want to discuss Pearl Harbor day too?

What is there to talk about?
The first responders
The ordinary heros
The way the country came together
The innocent lives lost
Show them the clip of President Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium shortly after the attacks
Talk about how the American flag was flying high all over the country
Discuss what you remember about the day, where you were when you heard about it, your fears etc.

You get the idea.

What would be the benefit of all this? It’s all mythology and weird patriotism and it doesn’t map to current experiences at all. Especially the stuff about the cops. The cops today are heavily militarized from surplus from the wars that followed. They don’t need to be lionized or romanticized — we need to keep the focus on things like Chauvin digging his knee into Floyd’s neck and be sure our children know the police are not to be trusted.

[Anonymous]

Yes, our APS elementary watched a video and talked about it.

[Anonymous]

It's not great to bring up a tragedy to kids every year, especially during a pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I struggle with this as a teacher. For years, I did whole lessons and talked about it and debriefed current events in connection to what happened. Kids could name where they were and what happened. Now, not only were kids not even alive, they were born close to a decade after it happened

At some point in time we stopped doing lessons on Pearl Harbor Day and D Day and V Day and to celebrate the Treat of Paris and so on..... I think 9/11 falls into that category. When we teach modern history and get to that moment, we talk about it. But no more specific lessons on the day.

This. As a teacher I also struggle with it. I did not say anything about it yesterday. None of my students were alive then and frankly I think they have a lot on their plate right now just dealing with C-19 and everything that is going on in our world. I feel badly I didn't bring it up...but I think I made the right choice.

[Anonymous]

Middle school, no
Elementary, yes