A new study by professors from UW-Madison and the College of William and Mary reveals that, 10 years later, there’s still no consensus on how to teach about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in schools.
Co-authors Jeremy Stoddard and Diana Hess have conducted numerous studies of 9/11 curriculum since 2007.
Their latest study, released Thursday, concluded Wisconsin provides little guidance for teachers on the topic. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Stoddard and Hess said.
“Wisconsin’s are very broad standards, very thematic, where teachers are allowed more control over how they present the material,” said Stoddard, an associate professor at William and Mary who completed his Ph.D. at UW-Madison.
Wisconsin’s standards focus more on developing critical thinking, reasoning and analysis skills, whereas other states use strict curriculum standards and focus on improving test scores, Stoddard said.
“In states with very specific standards, they’re more likely to present teachers a laundry list of events that students need to know for tests, which are often difficult for teachers to get through,” said Hess, a professor of curriculum and instruction at UW-Madison.
Much of the pair’s past research involves how top-selling textbooks have framed 9/11 in the past decade. In their initial study of 2004-05 textbooks, they found that many of the texts were vague on details surrounding 9/11, even omitting the death toll and the group responsible for the attacks.
The textbooks studied also were cautious when it came to mentioning controversial issues following Sept. 11, including the USA Patriot Act and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Even textbooks published in 2009 or 2010 were surprisingly lacking in detail, Hess said.
That could be because of space constraints, the desires of larger textbook purchasers such as California, Florida and Texas, and the assumption that students remember the event, Stoddard said.
But that isn’t necessarily true for many of the freshmen taking modern U.S. history in Madison’s high schools, who were 5 or 6 years old on Sept. 11, 2001.
Susan Hamblin, who oversees the social studies curriculum for the Madison School District, said the district’s ninth-grade history textbooks have been replaced in the last couple of years. Even so, she said, the district suggests teachers supplement those books with online resources.
“It is difficult to keep the printed materials current,” Hamblin said.
As for controversy, Hamblin said Madison teachers are familiar with teaching about provocative issues. “We don’t steer clear of controversy,” Hamblin said.
“We’ve put together some guiding questions that encourage all students to participate in discussion.”