Growing Up During The War on Terror
In the fall of 2001, I was two years old. I have not known a world pre-9/11.
Now being 23 years old, I have witnessed and can recall different debates on what should be taught in public schools, often from a conservative viewpoint. Whether it be the Lost Cause Myth, radicalizing kids to be communists, or as of recent, a college-level concept: Critical Race Theory.
“Is the point of history class to introduce young Americans to their heritage of heroes, the glories of American history? Or is history class supposed to make young people into critical examiners of their society? This true civic education teaches American young people to question every bit of received wisdom and be ready to change what needs changing?” — Adam Laats, Historian and Author of The Other School Reformers: Conservative Activism in American Education.
I remember being told that the United States was always the good guys and that everyone else was the necessary evil needed to be defeated. Malcolm X was dangerous, Nazis were non-existent after WWII ended, and Henry Ford was an innovator who could do no wrong (despite being a raging anti-semite). (Context: I am a product of the Michigan Public School system.)
Every year, my classes would revisit the Twin Towers falling through graphic footage, accompanied by our teachers hammering into…
