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by
Chris Braunlich
My
concern is that we will jump to conclusions about
who’s right and who’s wrong.”
That
was the expressed concern of George Mason
University’s Associate Provost for Educational
Programs at an August 29th seminar for
Social Studies teachers on “Teaching in a Time
of Terror: How do We Respond?”
Never
mind that purposefully killing innocent civilians
will always be wrong – it seems that
academia’s larger issue is the prospect that it
might actually have to exercise judgment.
The
professor’s views unfortunately seem to dominate
the educational establishment.
A plethora of newspaper articles,
commentaries and websites have already highlighted
the suggested emphasis on non-judgmentalism over
history and civics as the lessons our children
should take from September 11.
For
example:
Psychologist
Brian Lipincott, in a link off the National
Education Association website, suggests, “When
discussing the attacks do not suggest any group is
responsible.” Dr. Lippincott is not similarly constrained
when it comes to his own nation:
“Discuss historical instances of American
intolerance.”
The
Public Broadcasting Corporation weighs in as well,
offering a lesson plan suggesting that teachers
criticize the media for showing footage of
Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attacks.
And
the president of the National Council for the
Social Studies opines on his website that the
organization's purpose is “to reinforce the
ideals of tolerance, equity, and social justice
against a backlash of antidemocratic sentiments
and hostile divisions.”
In
other words, make no judgments, establish moral
equivalence, and hope that peace and understanding
will kiss the boo-boo and make it better.
The
world has seen much of this before in the
intellectual antecedents who once equated American
values and policies with those who enslaved their
peoples, and did their best to ignore the killing
fields of Cambodia.
They are among those who turned their heads away
from events in Europe, even as the brutal Nazi Holocaust was threatening to
extinguish a people and engulf our world in war.
Andrew
Rotherham, of the Democratic Leadership
Council’s Progressive Policy Institute offers a
better idea for 9/11: “Teachers must help
students understand the complicated reasons behind
the attacks. They were not a reaction against some
particular event or policy but rather an assault
on
U.S.
values and engagements in an interconnected world.
In short, the 9/11 tragedy was not about
what we do but about who we are.”
Is
there a resource that sends the right message?
Teachers
and parents seeking to explain to children and
students what happened, why, and what must be done
can find it in a collection of essays offered by
the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation (www.edexcellence.net)
answering a simple question: “What civics
lessons are the most imperative for K-12 teachers
to teach their pupils, as the ‘anniversary’ of
the September 11th attacks draws near,
about the United States and what it means to be an
American?”
These
are not “lesson plans” but a thoughtful set of
short papers designed to foster critical thinking
about the conventional wisdom surrounding 9/11
instruction. The authors range from Lynne Cheney
and William Bennett, to former college presidents
and current college professors, to ordinary K-12
teachers and parents. They include Republicans and
former
Clinton
appointees, and offer a range of perspectives on
“What Our Children Need to Know.”
What
unites them is their unabashed optimism for what
America
is and what must be done to secure our future. That
millions of immigrants come here for the promise
of liberty and opportunity. That we must draw a
contrast between societies where one’s rights
are linked to one’s religion, gender, sexual
orientation or ethnicity, and a society where
everyone can vote, protest, and worship or not
worship as they wish. That what uniquely unites
our nation is not our bloodlines or a narrow
ideology, but our belief in open and democratic
societies, and we were attacked by those who wish
to destroy those ideals.
Tolerance
and social justice are vital American values, but
they are not the only ones. Teachers and parents
could do a lot worse than let students know the
differences between freedom and totalitarianism
and illuminate what's at stake: Does the world's
future belong to democracy and the rule of law, or
to the darker forces we confronted on 9/11?
--
Sept. 9, 2002
Chris
Braunlich is vice president of the Thomas
Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, and a
member of the Fairfax County (VA) School Board,
representing the
Lee
District. The opinions expressed here are his own.
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