Learning the history of Sept. 11
Those born in early 2000s recall being taught about terrorist attacks on America
The “never forget” posts that start circulating days before the anniversary. The chatter of honoring first responders. People sharing stories of where they were when the towers fell and discussing the country’s fear, strength and unity that day.
For those born in the early 2000s, that’s how they perceive and were taught about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Most recall hearing about it from their family and friends, and then learning about it in school.
James Gregory, 19, who works for the Lake County Highway Department, said he remembers in middle school how the student news channel would do a special broadcast about the attacks around the anniversary.
“That’s usually when they talked about it the most,” Gregory said.
Teachers would discuss the attacks with the class, Gregory said. One year, Gregory said he remembers a first responder coming to talk to the school about his firsthand experience helping on scene.
What he took away from the lessons and discussions, Gregory said, is the uncertainty of that day.
“Mostly just the surprise, especially from the first plane, like people didn’t know what was going on,” Gregory said. “I feel like they should still have memorials for it, especially considering it was a big attack on America.”
Isa Johnson, 19, of Valparaiso, said she first learned about the attacks when a friend, who was born on Sept. 11, would mention sharing her birthday with a historical anniversary. But, in school, Johnson said the lessons boiled down to: Never forget the attacks on the towers.
“The moral of the story was honor Americans and anybody that may look Muslim was an enemy,” Johnson said. “The way I remember learning about it was we’re
these victims, and we had all these casualties, so now we needed greater national security because there are scary brown people.”
During classroom discussions about the attacks, the conversations focused on the first responders, Johnson said. She also remembers attending assemblies in school and reading pamphlets about people who either died in the attack or immediate aftermath or of survivors.
But, in elementary school, Johnson recalled a classmate, who was Muslim, telling her that she and her family were scared to leave the house in the days after the attack. Another Muslim friend told Johnson that her mother was scared to go the hospital to give birth to her shortly after the attacks.
“We only ever heard one side of the story and there’s a huge danger with only telling the single story,” Johnson said. “We see this very noble story of (first responders), but I think that there deserves to be that other story being told as well.”
Garrett Wolf, 21, of
Valparaiso and senior and Indiana University Northwest, said he remembers the “9/11 Day” his school held, where all fourth grade students spent the day with the history teacher, Mr. Johnson, who taught them about the attacks.
Mr. Johnson told the students about how one plane hit the north tower, then minutes later another plan hit the south tower, and how a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and a fourth plane headed for the Capitol Building but crashed in a Pennsylvania field, Wolf said.
Wolf recalls Mr. Johnson sharing stories of those who were at the site of the towers, and his family from New York sharing their memories of the day.
“Every time we learned about this from our teachers they would always be able to tell us how they found out. They could describe exactly where they were and they could vividly describe the surroundings and reactions,” Wolf said.
People being able to recall those details underscores the tragedy of the day, Wolf said.
It is important to remember the events of Sept. 11, Wolf said, and he believes that his school did a good job teaching students about the attacks. Schools should teach students about the attacks, he said.
But, the one thing Wolf said he wished teachers would discuss is the aftermath of the attacks was “the war that persisted.”
“I think there’s a lack of knowledge of (President George W. Bush’s) persistency on finding weapons of mass destruction that weren’t actually there in the Middle East and sending us to endless wars abroad,” Wolf said, referring to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Now, around the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Wolf said he thinks about the first responders and community volunteers who helped at the site and as a day of unity. Wolf said he’ll never forget the photos of people of all different backgrounds working together at the site.
“The event itself was tragic, but I think afterward it really kind of united our country. Particularly right now, that’s something we desperately need,” Wolf said. “I view events like 9/11 as sort of a hope that one day if other tragedies unfold we can maybe come together as a country again.”