More On AZ 9/11 Memorial

Arizona's 9/11 Memorial is causing outrage among some. Along with seeming to have strayed from the original intent, did you know there's an educational program to go with it?

Inscriptions etched into Arizona’s Sept. 11 monument — meant to inspire and capture the horror of the terrorist attacks — sparked the beginnings of a political blog battle this week.

I found this on the Arizona 9/11 Memorial website:

The sentiments to be etched in the visor and illuminated are central to the success of the memorial. They have not yet been selected, and the commission should take care to make sure they fully convey the emotional toll the tragedy took on all of us, the resurgent patriotism and outpouring of support for others.

Among the phrases under consideration: "U.S. must bomb back." "Multiple funerals in a day." "Entire unit of Phoenix Fire Department to ground zero." "People stood in line for hours to give blood." "We responded with heart."

The sentiment pictured above sounds a little off the mark and far too political, if you ask me. But what about the educational program available in pdf? The program sticks to a mostly patriotic theme until 6th grade, then starts to take something of a turn.

Discuss the fact that there have been terrorists throughout all periods of world history. Give or ask for examples. (Teacher could refer to High School section of the SS Standard, Strand 2 Concept 9 PO2, for ideas.) Ask how terrorists today differ from other warriors in history. If the student could ask a terrorist today a question, what would they ask?

By 7th grade the program isn't even titled for 9/11 and students will be taught that any anger over 9/11 is a sign of intolerance:

Activity Title: Tolerance, Unity, and Diversity

Discuss how, as a result of the events of 9-11, some people had angry feelings about people who came from different parts of the world or dressed differently than most Americans. They were intolerant. Although our country was unified, there were people who were hurt or died because they came from a certain part of the world.

By 8th grade and into high school students are taught to consider reasons behind 9/11 ... and what is it they need to take into consideration? Watergate and Iran Contra and the CIA wars ... huh??

Describe how key political, social, environmental, and economic events of the late 20th century and early 21st century (e.g., Watergate, OPEC/oil crisis, Central American wars/Iran-Contra, End of Cold War, first Gulf War, September 11) affected, and continue to affect, the United States.

At another level students are discussing the trail of tears and a terrorism memorial for victims from around the world. A fine idea, but why am I thinking they'd include Iraq. It includes hooks for criticizing the Iraq War - and lets not forget how Bush stomped all over our civil liberties. And there are always those pesky environmental concerns:

Today is September 11. Ask students to review what happened on 9-11. Ask how many years ago the event occurred. Inform students that today they will look at any effects 9-11 has had on our civil liberties.

Analyze how geography influences historical events and movements (e.g., Trail of Tears, Cuban Missile Crisis, location of terrorist camps, pursuit of Pancho Villa, Mao’s long march, Hannibal crossing the Alps, Silk Road).

Ask students what a world-wide memorial to victims of terrorism might look like. Have students design/draw their idea of a memorial. Have them write a paragraph or two explaining how their design shows a world affected by terrorism in the 21st century.

Describe how government policies influence the economy: a. need to compare costs and benefits of government policies before taking action b. use of federal, state, and local government spending to provide national defense; address environmental concerns; define and enforce property, consumer and worker rights; regulate markets; and provide goods and services

As with most things educational today, you start off talking about an event and end up discussing the same Liberal drool. They should just give the kids the day off for 9/11. One less day in our current educational system might be as good a way to fight terror as any, were it left up to them.

Ace picked up on this a while back and has more today click here.

Comments

[jpe]

a. need to compare costs and benefits of government policies before taking action

Oh no! They're being asked to think! To the ramparts!

[jpe]

"By 8th grade and into high school students are taught to consider reasons behind 9/11 ... and what is it they need to take into consideration? Watergate and Iran Contra and the CIA wars ... huh??"

Not for nothing, but you may want to avoid topics this complicated, because you tend to get confused easily. The aforementioned examples of Iran/Contra and Watergate come from the state education standards that delineate classroom objectives (or "concepts," as the AZ dpt of ed calls them - each yearlong class has around 10 concepts). The quoted excerpt was a concept (be able to understand events in late 20th century US history), and the 9/11 class fits within that "concept."

[splashtc]

Why don't they just stick to the 3 r's-leave politics for college courses.

[Purple Avenger]

I did some research on one of the Governor's commission members - Rich Dozer, owner of the Diamondbacks. http://purpleavenger.blogspot.com/2006/09/arizona-911-memorial-scandal.html

MKH has a few more over at Townhall. I suspect the vast majority of them will look similar.

[Matt]

Wow, a conspiracy! You can find a liberal political agenda in the ingredient list of your cornflakes if you look hard enough.

The 9/11 memorial quote in the image is obviously political, but none of the education points are slanted in the least. They are recognizing 9/11 as a significant event in our country's history and are asking students to discuss the various effects of the occasion.

Your first quoted section of the curriculum merely compares terrorism through the ages. I don’t see your objection to this.

The second area, Tolerance, Unity, and Diversity, is completely factual. An Indian Sikh was murdered in Phoenix as a reaction to the attacks, even though he didn’t even share the same religion as the terrorists, let alone their ideology.

The third section has no bearing at all on the reasons behind 9/11. They are discussing “key political, social, environmental, and economic events of the late 20th century and early 21st century” and their effect on the US. 9/11 just happens to be one of those events; they are not linking it to the other events in any way.

The first part of the fourth section is merely asking IF there has been any effect on civil liberties due to the actions taken in response to 9/11. Some may say yes, others may say no. It will reflect their own beliefs, and more likely the beliefs of their parents, considering their age and maturity, as to how they answer.

The second part of the fourth section is asking about how any and all government policies influence the economy. No mention of 9/11 or Iraq at all. If they do end up talking about Iraq, it will be an indication of either their (or the teacher’s) own political bias, or, further into the future, a widespread acceptance of the administration’s blundering in Iraq. It really depends on how Iraq turns out which is more likely. In any case, it’s not directly injecting a liberal agenda (or conservative agenda, for that matter), it is merely opening questions for discussion.

It is a reflection of your own obvious political bias that you singled out phrases which discuss issues that are currently very damaging to the Republican party. But why am I bothering to write this, you are obviously closed off from any intrustion of reason into your distorted view. Off to do better things…

[Nick J.]

So educating children about civil liberties and government policy is "Liberal drool" in your opinion, eh? Well, that certainly says more about you than it does about our nation's educators. And I imagine that they're quite grateful that you are just some guy with a blog, rather than their boss.