DID FCPS Talk about 9/11?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe in history but I have too much to do with content to spend a day reminiscing about a day the kids weren’t alive for and do not care about.

Wow a profound condemnation of the state of education today.

No first PP, but quoted PP do you spend a lot of time thinking about Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7? I'd argue that day was at least as significant, possibly moreso (would have never dropped atomic bombs without it), but Gen X and beyond barely think about it. I had a friend who mentioned it every year in college and we all thought it was one of her adorable quirks.

My grandparents were children during the Depression, during World War II, and had my mother a few years after the war ended. As a child I heard a lot more about the Depression than I ever heard about Pearl Harbor.

Not every historical event affects families/people the same way.

I mean the thing about 9/11 that caused it to stick in everyone's mind is because we watched it slowly unfold on television. Most things like this are basically over by the time you learn about them. This one wasn't.

True, but the number of people who witnessed it is decreasing, so less attention will be paid each year.

[Anonymous]

My high schooler learned about it in history class on 9/10 because he did not have history class on 9/11. We learned at BTSN that they have a “9/11 day” in history because none of the kids were born when it happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why do they need to talk about it?

They don’t. But some adults feel the need to drag it out every year and remind kids it happened and also to then recount exactly where they were that day.

[Anonymous]

Yes in my student's 8th grade civics class. They watched some video footage, listened to hero stories, and each researched a few people who were either victims or survivors and shared with the class.

[Anonymous]

Most of my 5th graders don’t really have the maturity to have a valuable discussion about it. It’s like a movie to them, and you inevitably have one of then say something awful (like a gory detail they heard somewhere) or talk about how cool it was. And then you have to deal with that. So other than the mention on the school news, I don’t talk about it unless a student brings it up. Kids who do have the maturity can talk about it with their families.

When I taught 7th, it was a different story. They were mostly able to be respectful, thoughtful, and appropriately inquisitive, so we had some good discussions.

[Anonymous]

There was a moment of silence and the principal said something but that was it. It isn’t related to my content area in HS. A lot of historical things happen on different days and we don’t talk about them. None of these students were born when in happened.

In our version of homeroom, one of the students asked me if I was teaching on that day. I was, in this area and I told them what that day was like for me here. They asked a lot of questions but mostly were fascinated by the differences in the times. No, no one was texting because no students had cells. I didn’t own a cell phone. The internet was not streaming non stop videos 25/7 of live feeds. We were not using laptops in class all of the time. Social media was not blowing up our phones with alerts. They can’t imagine that and their questions involved more around those things.

[Anonymous]

My parents knew exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about Pearl Harbor. No TV in 1941, so it is not about TV.

9/11 is the "Pearl Harbor moment" for most people who were above age 7 when it happened. And large chunks of US history since 2001 can only make sense if one understands 9/11. It is not a random date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a moment of silence and the principal said something but that was it. It isn’t related to my content area in HS. A lot of historical things happen on different days and we don’t talk about them. None of these students were born when in happened.

In our version of homeroom, one of the students asked me if I was teaching on that day. I was, in this area and I told them what that day was like for me here. They asked a lot of questions but mostly were fascinated by the differences in the times. No, no one was texting because no students had cells. I didn’t own a cell phone. The internet was not streaming non stop videos 25/7 of live feeds. We were not using laptops in class all of the time. Social media was not blowing up our phones with alerts. They can’t imagine that and their questions involved more around those things.

That’s very similar to the discussion we had in the staff lounge at lunch. There were probably at least 3 or 4 teachers who were preschool age and a couple more who weren’t yet born.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do they need to talk about it?

They don’t. But some adults feel the need to drag it out every year and remind kids it happened and also to then recount exactly where they were that day.

You really do not understand the historical and cultural significance? Or the emotional experience of those alive then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do they need to talk about it?

They don’t. But some adults feel the need to drag it out every year and remind kids it happened and also to then recount exactly where they were that day.

You really do not understand the historical and cultural significance? Or the emotional experience of those alive then?

I wouldn’t consider it more than any other significant historical event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do they need to talk about it?

They don’t. But some adults feel the need to drag it out every year and remind kids it happened and also to then recount exactly where they were that day.

You really do not understand the historical and cultural significance? Or the emotional experience of those alive then?

I wouldn’t consider it more than any other significant historical event.

I would suggest you study it. You clearly did not live it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do they need to talk about it?

They don’t. But some adults feel the need to drag it out every year and remind kids it happened and also to then recount exactly where they were that day.

You really do not understand the historical and cultural significance? Or the emotional experience of those alive then?

Obviously I understand it but do you think any kid alive hasn’t heard of 9/11 OR that they’re getting the full historical scope of basically how it changed the entire world as we know it with the Iraq War, Saddam Hussein, etc etc? NO they’re getting their teacher saying “I was at school that day and the weather was beautiful and it was so scary watching people jump out of buildings and the firefighters were heroes.”

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s Fairfax. Most kids have no clue what day of the week it is. There are classrooms at every grade level half full of kids who can read one syllable words or count by 2’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s Fairfax. Most kids have no clue what day of the week it is. There are classrooms at every grade level half full of kids who can read one syllable words or count by 2’s.

Then obviously there are way more important things to focus on than reminiscing about 9/11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why do they need to talk about it?

They don’t. But some adults feel the need to drag it out every year and remind kids it happened and also to then recount exactly where they were that day.

You really do not understand the historical and cultural significance? Or the emotional experience of those alive then?

I wouldn’t consider it more than any other significant historical event.

I would suggest you study it. You clearly did not live it.

Sure did, I was at DCA that morning. It might be one of the more relevant historical events of OUR time, but over 3000 years? That’s a long list.