What Should Public Schools Be Teaching About 9/11?

By Scott Swain

There is a need today for patriotic fervor in our schools. Our failure to teach real American
History and real patriotism is no more evident than in the way we are handling current political
issues in the classroom.
Students who do not have a grasp of who we are and what we stand for, cannot hope to see
clearly the issues and ramifications of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Instead of
teaching about how Americans have handled such invasions in the past such as the
Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the pedagogical counsel that is being taught in our
schools today in response to the terrorist attacks is “long on multiculturalism, feelings,
relativism, and tolerance but short on history, civics, and patriotism” (Finn, 2003).
How has our nation handled threats to our national liberty in the past? The first threat was the
tyrannical reign of the king of Great Britain. Thomas Paine taught the American people how we
should react to such tyranny through his book written in 1776 entitled Common Sense.
It has been estimated that out of a population of 3,000,000 people, more than 300,000 bought
copies. Translated into present-day terms, that would correspond to a sale of around 25,000,000
copies. All who could read read it. Others listened while it was read to them. Today the words of
Thomas Paine, which will do much to promote a feeling of patriotism in our schools, can and
should be taught in our classrooms.
Paine said, in essence, that Americans should do what is right in their own eyes, cut ties with
England, and set up a government of their own. “We have it in our power to begin the world over
again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now”
(Paine, 1776).
In response, the people marched into battle to secure the dream that Paine had painted in their
minds to have a new kind of liberty that had never been known on the face of the earth. A
Constitutional Republic!
We do not need to look to other nations for answers to our national problems. America has
always looked inwardly at herself and found the answers so we can continue to be a light upon
the mountain for the rest of the world to see!
References

Finn, C.E. (2003). Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to
Know. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from
http://www.edexcellence.net/institute/publication/publication.cfm?id=316
Paine, T. (1776). Common Sense. Philadelphia: W. and T. Bradford
Scott Swain is the President of the Roots of Freedom Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. Roots
of Freedom and the Roots of Freedom Foundation educates and inspires youth, families, and all citizens to
understand, respect, and preserve for future generations the values, freedoms, and ideals established by the

Founding Fathers and fundamental documents of the United States of America.
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