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What
will American children be told about 9/11?
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WASHINGTON,
September 3 (News Agencies) - American children return to school Monday,
September 3, amidst a simmering dispute about September 11 and the
lessons they should be taught about the terrorist attacks whose first
anniversary is fast approaching, news agencies reported.
The
dispute has become part of America’s endless culture wars between
liberals and conservatives. For the former, September 11 underlines the
need for tolerance, forgiveness and the acceptance of diversity; for the
latter, the anniversary is all about "moral clarity," and
recognition that the attacks were evil deeds perpetrated by
unequivocally evil terrorists, according to Rupert Cornwell, the British
daily newspaper, The Independent’s Washington correspondent.
Nowhere,
though, is the argument sharper than between the country's two largest
teachers' unions, the 2.7 million strong National Education Association
(NEA) and its smaller rival, the American Federation of Teachers, which
believes that in its concern not to apportion blame for the attacks the
association has caved in to the political correctness lobby, reported
Cornwell.
Children
should have a factual understanding of September 11, says the
federation, arguing that lessons should be based on "what is
undisputed about the terrorists who are to blame for the attack on
America and whose values are anathema to ours".
Anything
that seemed to blame the U.S. for the attacks was wrong, the federation
continued, as it poured scorn on "well-meaning lesson plans"
that avoided explicit judgment about the aims and character of the
terrorists, the Independent reported.
Twisting
the knife further, the federation added that, of course, "not for
one moment do we believe that the NEA is unpatriotic", and efforts
to portray it as such were "just dead wrong."
The
NEA hit back by accusing its critics of plumbing new depths by taking
the various proposed September 11 curriculums out of context, to exploit
America's greatest modern tragedy for cheap political points, added the Independent.
But
the NEA was stung enough by charges that it was promoting
"psychobabble" to pull the material from its website.
One
proposal generating controversy was that students read and discuss a
fictional story entitled, "My Name is Osama", about an
immigrant Iraqi boy whose family moves to the U.S., and then finds
himself bullied by his American classmates because of his name and
heritage. The trouble is only defused when the headmaster talks of his
own family history to help Osama put the episode in perspective.
That
was too much for exponents of the "moral clarity" beloved of
U.S. President George W. Bush.
"What
we learnt on 11 September was not that Americans discriminate against
Arabs," the Independent quoted Bill Bennett, a leading
conservative and a former education secretary in Republican
administrations, as saying. He adds that, despite blemishes, America has
a good overall record of promoting peace and justice.
"Teachers
must be willing to say that there are moral absolutes," Bennett
insists.
At
this point the dispute moves directly into the political arena, echoing
President Bush's insistence that terrorism is always evil, and the world
has to choose either to support the United States or be counted against
it, said Cornwell.
In
a suggested curriculum co-written with Lynne Cheney, wife of the
Vice-President and another conservative stalwart, Bennett attacks
"the dangerous idea of moral equivalence", and "the usual
pap about diversity" put out by the NEA and its backers.
