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Addressing Tragedy in the Classroom H-Net's Vice President for Teaching, Prof. Steven Mintz of the University of Houston, has been overseeing the development of essays, annotated links, and online materials related to teaching, research, and education in the history of terrorism.
On September 11, 2001, hijackers turned three commercial airlines into missiles and attacked key symbols of American economic and military might. These hideous attacks leveled the World Trade Center towers in New York, destroyed part of the Pentagon, and left Americans in a mood similar to that which the country experienced after the devastating Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The horror of what happened on September 11, 2001, almost defies imagination. More than five thousand innocent civilians perished as a result of these acts of terror-twice the number of Americans who died on June 6, 1944, during the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France, and even more than the 3,620 Americans who died at the Civil War battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, previously the largest number of Americans to die in combat on a single day. More Americans died in two hours on September 11th than died in the American Revolution.
Many of our students are eye-witnesses to history. They watched in horror as a passenger airliner struck one of the towers of New York's World Trade Center and gasped in disbelief as the structures collapsed and the Pentagon, too, was attacked.
One of our greatest challenges as
teachers is to help our students come to terms with these horrific events. Our
students must cope with fear, anger, despair, uncertainty, and a sense of helplessness.
We cannot wipe away the horror of these events-nor do we want to. But we can
help our students better understand what they witnessed, and therefore help
them recover from this time of sorrow.
For many American students, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were
their first experience with a true national tragedy. Unlike their parents, whose
souls and spirits were wounded by the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy
and Martin Luther King or the death of brothers and classmates during the Vietnam
war, these students, for the most part, have grown up during a period of prosperity
and relative peace. They have no memory of the explosion of the space shuttle
Challenger and may not remember the devastating attack on the federal
building in Oklahoma City.
This is the first time they have had to deal with the depths of sadness that accompany such a depraved act. Also, this is the first time that they have experienced the national unity that follows such a tragedy.
There are many aspects of the tragedy of September 11th that American history teachers are ill-prepared to teach. Some key issues require a solid grounding in Middle Eastern and Near Eastern history, such as why radicalism in that part of the world has taken a religious, rather than a nationalist or a Marxist, form. Nevertheless, there are many critical issues that American history teachers can-and should-address.
We can help our students understand
how similarly significant events in the past have fundamentally altered the
direction of American politics and the course of history. We can show our students
how Americans reacted to earlier acts of calculated horror. We can explore America's
complicated relationship with the nations of the Middle East and Near East.
Most important of all, we can demonstrate why an understanding of history is
essential for explaining the challenges we face today and as we chart our way
into the future.
In ordinary times, many students question the value and relevance of history.
After all, knowledge of history doesn't seem as practical or rewarding as knowledge
of medicine or physics or economics. The normal justifications for studying
history seem rather vague: to learn about the development of our society and
our cultural heritage; to develop the skills characteristic of history as a
discipline, such as the ability to undertake research, to read and interpret
primary sources, to write clearly and analytically.
But in times of crisis and tragedy we are reminded of the more profound reasons why we study history. We study history:
- In Order to Learn from the Mistakes of the Past so We do not Repeat Them.
- Because Knowledge of the Past is Essential to Understanding the Present and Shaping the Future.
- To Remind Ourselves that Nothing is Inevitable, but is the Product of Human Action and Choices But also of Chance.
- To Remember Acts of Heroism and of Villainy.
- Because History Contributes to Moral Understanding and Reminds Us about the People who Weathered Adversity and Acted with Courage.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001 underscore the need for historical perspective, and provide the history teacher with an opportunity to remind students of why historical knowledge is indispensable in navigating through present-day challenges and preparing for the future.
What, then, do the events of September 11, 2001 teach us about history?
To Expect the Unexpected.
No one predicted on September 10, 2001 that the next day would witness an unprecedented act of terrorism, just as no one in 1941 anticipated an attack on Pearl Harbor and no one in 1991 guessed that the Soviet Union would collapse. Similarly, no one guessed that the outbreak of world war in 1914 would result in the collapse of five empires or the Communist Revolution in Russia.
Today, no one can predict the outcome of the events that took place on September 11, 2001. But history does remind us that consequences of a terrorist attack or an assassination are rarely those that the perpetrators of violence have sought. Those who destroyed the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon hoped to demoralize the American population, disrupt our economy, and discredit the United States in the eyes of the world. Despite the destruction they wrought, it seems unimaginable that the terrorists will succeed in those goals.
To Remember that Nothing is Inevitable
What happened on September 11, 2001, was not preordained. The tragic events
that occurred that day were the product of a train of individual events that
might have turned out differently. Nothing better underscores the unpredictability
of events better than the actions of the brave passengers on United Airlines
Flight, who learned about the attacks on the World Trade Center and sacrificed
their own lives in order to prevent their airplane from striking Washington,
D.C.
To Understand Why
In recent years, we have come to recognize that most acts of aggression and fanaticism in the contemporary world are rooted in a sense of historical grievance. In areas as diverse as the Balkans, Israel and Palestine, Northern Ireland, and Zimbabwe memories of the past are strong and fuel contemporary conflicts. History does not have the power to resolve those conflicts, but it can help us understand why antagonisms are so deeply rooted.
To Prevent History from Repeating Itself
Over time, we will understand why the intelligence apparatus failed to uncover the terrorist plot and why our security systems failed to prevent the attacks. As we learn from past mistakes, we may be able to prevent similar acts of terror from recurring in the future.
To Remember
History is our collective memory. It is an indelible record of acts of bravery and of treachery, of leadership and of cowardice. We study history in order to keep these memories alive.
Page 2: Historical
Background
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