Published: September 10, 2006 11:18 pm         

Valley teachers bring perspective to history books about 9/11

Students were 11 or 12 years old when attacks occurred

While it has been five years since a terrorist attack destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, that memory is still vivid in the minds of many students at Terre Haute North Vigo and Terre Haute South Vigo high schools.

“It is a unique teaching opportunity as many of the junior students were 11 or 12 years old in 2001. The students, now 16 or 17 years old, have a visual memory of the event, as many saw the attacks on television,” said Joe Higham, 41, who teaches Advanced Placement U.S. history at Terre Haute North.

Juniors at North and South study the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in social studies and U.S. history classes. There are 585 juniors at North and 450 juniors at South. Higham uses the textbook “The American Pageant” for his classes.

Most juniors in Vigo County high schools use the textbook, “American Nation in the Modern Era.” It contains more pages than “The American Pageant” and has a copy of President Bush’s address to the nation after the attack. Both textbooks were published in 2002.

“I think it is obviously one of the most historical events in their lifetime. It is like the assassination of John F. Kennedy for the generation of the 1960s and Pearl Harbor [for] an older generation of the 1940s,” Higham said.

“In my generation, the IRA [Irish Republican Army] was the main terrorist group you heard about, always on the news blowing up a bookstore or café in England. You also heard about the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization].

“We talk about how terrorism has always been here, but the difference since 2001 is that it is hitting home. We talk about how [the students’] world has changed,” Higham said.

Higham said while student memories remain strong, the attacks have been revisited in this year’s Oliver Stone film, “World Trade Center,” as well as a previous TV movie, “Flight 93.”

Jim Mann, 41, is social studies chairman at Terre Haute South. He gives every new teacher in social studies or history a copy of the Sept. 12, 2001, issue of the Tribune-Star.

“Eventually it will run out (he has 20 copies left), but for me, this is a defining point, like JFK and Pearl Harbor, of who we are and who we will become,” Mann said.

“I want to make sure that the new teachers here have access to a primary source in the sense of the photographs that we had on that next day,” Mann said.

“I also have the 1998 issue [of the Tribune-Star] that has bin Laden as the No. 1 enemy. The kids get real big-eyed when you talk about that. I use it as a source of debate,” Mann said.

Mann said he is finding students are more opinionated on issues related to the 9/11 attacks.

“When the war [with Iraq] first started, most students were in favor. Now there is more of a divide,” Mann said.

He uses a debate format from the National Council of Social Studies as a teaching tool. “I get four students who say ‘yes, the removal of Saddam Hussein by force was justified,’ and four who say ‘no.’ They spend two weeks researching,” Mann said.

“They come in after school and practice. I argue the other side. They get upset, but I am trying to prepare them for the debate. It is kinda neat to see where they are coming from. Most kids are very well-researched. They really want to come in making their point on their view. It is a great teamwork exercise,” Mann said.

“The neat part is to see something like this that was negative, referring to 9/11, and to see what can happen afterwards shows the strength of our people. That we can sit here in 2006 and debate whether or not what we did was right or wrong,” Mann said.

“In September 2001, the people who attacked us didn’t care; they don’t want a debate, they wanted to destroy. Here we are with 17-year-old kids that can debate,” Mann said.

Mann also has students select topics from post-9/11 as projects.

“Every year I have a student that does the Patriot Act, in terms of ‘is it constitutional or not?’” he said.

The student must show both pro and con on the subject and display that on a poster board.

“We place them around the pool area. It is neat to see kids not in our class that get a chance to read them,” Mann said.

Mann also uses a 2004 article from Lee Hamilton, a former Indiana congressman and director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University, to stir classroom debate. Hamilton’s article is on “Hard Realities of Nation Building.”

“It is another example to learn. The war in Iraq was supposedly over, and now we are building schools, so are we nation building? It helps start to develop a worldview, how to solve problems,” Mann said.

Higham said he views history as a lifelong learning tool.

“That is what history has to be, because if we don’t use it as a tool to grow from and make sure the same mistakes don’t happen again, you just are faced with a continuance,” Higham said.

“These students are going to be the leaders in the future … and since they have had such a ready experience with 9/11, maybe they do take a little more ownership in it,” he said.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com