Opinion

9/11 15 Years Later: Teaching the Event and the Lessons to a New Generation

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This month we remember the deadly 9/11 attacks. It's been 15 years. How are the families doing? What the kids are learning and what do the rest of us remember.

"We remember and we will never forget the 3,000 beautiful lives that perished," President Obama delivers a speech in the Pentagon remembering the fallen victims of the tragic terrorist attack on American soil in the morning of September 11, 2001.

Over the weekend of September 11 people gathered in Ground Zero to commemorate their loved ones, while most of us still remember, a decade and a half makes a difference and the memory is now part of American history.

"We say we'll never forget, but we do forget, because time goes fast," U.S. National Guard Capt. Charles Sanders said. Indeed, time went fast. Today, teachers are educating students born before the attacks and for the most part, there is great variations on how these lessons are being taught. Some schools have structured lesson plans while some still draw on human emotions.

While educators agree that students should learn about this part of American history that changed the world, the challenge lies in the readiness of the teachers and parents to handle the outcome. Since this is a sensitive and thought provoking matter that can bring up more complex questions and very polarizing opinions, the adults are more unprepared compared to the children.

Some teachers handles these matters professionally while others have a hard time dealing with the subject and the reactions from their class. The same is true for the parents, especially those who have emotional connections to the tragedy.

Devising an effective program remains an issue in educating generations of students in the subject of the 9/11 attacks, the lessons we learned from the experience and how it has changed the world as know it.

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