'This is now history to our kids': Teaching 9/11 in the Valley nearly 20 years after the attacks
STAUNTON — Jarrett Hatcher was leaving a meeting at Robert E. Lee High School when a student in the hallway called out, "Hey, did you hear the World Trade Center got hit?"
The high school history teacher went back to his classroom, turned on the TV and stopped by several colleagues' classrooms to tell them what happened. They made it through the day in "utter shock," he said.
"As a teacher, you're giving the lesson or you're working on something, and you have the answers," Hatcher said. But when a national tragedy strikes, "you're like, 'I don't really have any answers for this. I don't know what Sept. 12 is going to bring.' I remember that very vividly."
While most adults, like Hatcher, have distinct memories of Sept. 11, 2001, this year is the first that the vast majority of high school seniors weren't alive when the attacks took place.
Teachers say many students have similar relationships with 9/11 as adults do with events like the bombing of Pearl Harbor or even the Challenger explosion: they know the facts but may not have the personal connection that comes with witnessing a tragedy and its aftermath. As a result, some educators are taking a different tack to teaching 9/11 or using the anniversary as an opportunity to focus on patriotism and civic duty.
"We've kind of had to make a paradigm shift," said Seth Davis, a history and English teacher at Wilson Middle School. "There was a time when you could just go, 'Let's remember' ... This is now history to our kids.'"
'I witnessed it. I experienced it'
The Virginia Standards of Learning require teachers to cover 9/11. Students should be able to explain "the changes in foreign policies and the role of the United States in a world confronted by international terrorism, with emphasis on the American response to 9/11," the standards say.
Even if students weren't tested on the subject, Hatcher said he would still cover it because it's crucial to students' understanding of the world. He dedicates at least two days to teaching 9/11 in his 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade classes, including showings of two documentaries.
Teens enter Hatcher's classroom with varying levels of knowledge about the attacks and aftermath.
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Some have never seen the footage, others have researched the event on their own time and many come back to class the next day with questions, he said. The lessons are also a chance to explain to students that aspects of life that feel commonplace today, like airport security, are relatively recent changes.
"So many of the things we teach ... we're just basing it off what we've read, what we've studied, what we've learned. So it's very interesting to have something such as 9/11 that you were witness to," Hatcher said. "I witnessed it. I experienced it. I know what it was like. That's the part that comes across — I hope — when I'm teaching."
For younger students, lessons in patriotism and civic duty
At Clymore Elementary School, educators generally don't cover 9/11 in the classroom because the students are so young, said third grade teacher Elizabeth Packer. Instead, the school honors veterans, law enforcement officers and other individuals who serve the community with an event on Sept. 11 every year.
"Parents should be the ones that maybe explain that to them so they don't have fears about airplanes or traveling or other things that may scare them," Packer said. "We focus more on thinking about the freedoms that we have as Americans, our responsibilities as citizens and what that looks like in the community and the classroom."
The school invites family members and community members to the event, which includes the pledge of allegiance, music from the Stewart Middle School and Fort Defiance High School bands and choirs, and a moment of silence.
There's also a parade, where students line the halls and cheer as veterans and first responders walk a loop around the school, Packer explained.
“I cry every year,” Packer said. “When everybody is singing or saying the pledge together, and then when the veterans walk the halls … It is touching.”
This year, teachers at Wilson Middle School are combining classroom discussions about Sept. 11 with a brand-new event intended to emphasize patriotism and civic engagement.
Davis, the history teacher, said he’s had to adjust his approach to teaching 9/11 as the years have progressed. He came up with the idea for a school-wide assembly to both promote community service and an awareness of the tragedy, said Principal Vanessa Mundie.
Veterans, law enforcement officers and other community members are invited to the ceremony, which will feature the presentation of the colors, music from the school band, retirement of the colors and a speaker, who is a parent, state trooper and Army Reserve captain, Davis said.
“Patriotism is something that’s taught … It’s not innate,” he said. “The hope is that, through this, [students] will see the generations that have come before … have chosen to spend their lives helping others.”
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