School let down (1 Viewer)

[Sahara]

9/11, a day that should never be forgotten. A day that should be taught to our children in our schools so our future can learn from and honor those who lost their lives on that horrific day. Unfortunately the school district my children attend think otherwise. When I came home today the first thing I asked my children is what they had learned or did on Patriot day? To my shock both my kids told me that their schools did absolutely nothing Granted I think alot of material of 9/11 is age appropriate but there are ways that children can learn from grades k-12. Make a flag, have a moment of silence or for gods sake at least fly the flag in front of the school at half staff. As a first responder my kids were taught about this day in accordance with their age. I thought the schools would at least show some sort of respect towards the victims and heros of 9/11. Needless to say I called the schools and left messages for the principals. I look forward to hear from them to see why this wasn't taught or at least mentioned.

 

[Go for Broke]

All the flags in my town were at half mast today.

 

[Scott]

9/11, a day that should never be forgotten. A day that should be taught to our children in our schools so our future can learn from and honor those who lost their lives on that horrific day. Unfortunately the school district my children attend think otherwise. When I came home today the first thing I asked my children is what they had learned or did on Patriot day? To my shock both my kids told me that their schools did absolutely nothing Granted I think alot of material of 9/11 is age appropriate but there are ways that children can learn from grades k-12. Make a flag, have a moment of silence or for gods sake at least fly the flag in front of the school at half staff. As a first responder my kids were taught about this day in accordance with their age. I thought the schools would at least show some sort of respect towards the victims and heros of 9/11. Needless to say I called the schools and left messages for the principals. I look forward to hear from them to see why this wasn't taught or at least mentioned.

I don't know about your location but my teenage daughter told me they discussed 911 and the background of the event in High School history class yesterday. Flags at half staff everywhere within the 30 miles of where I live and where I work including where I work.
They better figure out what "Patriot Day" means and how to observe it if whoever came up with it wants to see it "take off." I see it on a few calenders but Massachusetts has "Patriot's Day" already. Considering that many of the aircraft victims were from this area, (including my daughter's doctor, a friend of my brother and a tenant of my mother's) we're aware of 911.

What ARE you going to teach the smaller kids anyway? About the best thing is that a good number of folks pulled together to help and That is a good lesson.

 

[MarkeytMaker]

My whole town was half mast, except for one school (not my kids school). Oddly it was 3 pm and parents were picking up there kids when I noticed it...how the whole day went by without a correction is beyond me

 

[Sahara]

What ARE you going to teach the smaller kids anyway? About the best thing is that a good number of folks pulled together to help and That is a good lesson.

Don't get me wrong the younger kids don't need to know the exact details of the event. However, in the same token I do believe that even young children need to understand that this was a very important day in US history. Now I would never expect the schools to go into the horrific detail of the incident with my 7 or 9 year old. All that I would ask is that they taught the children age appropriate material about 9/11. I know you are gonna probably ask what is age appropriate material for a 7 or 9 year old? For the 7 year old I would say do not focus so much on the who, what, when,why and how more or less just start to hammer down the point that this is an importnat date in American history and Patriot Day itself should be recognized by doing something as little as making American flags, talking about what makes America great, writing to soliders, police officers, firefighters etc.... On the other hand I believe my 9 year old is at the age where he can start to learn more about the event. He has already covered the ACW, Civil War, Slavery etc.. in school so I don't think it would hurt for a 9 year old to start to learn about 9/11. At his age the who, what, when and why would be age appropriate for any teacher to discuss in class IMO (not the how). I guess I might be over reacting a tad but it really strikes home when you pick your son up from the bus stop with his 2 friends and you ask what did you guys learn today abouyt Patriot day and your son tells you nothing and one of his friends says "Who cares about 9/11. Whats so special about that day anyways. Its not like any sacrifices were made". I did get a response from the schools indicating that they believed that the children might get scared so the school district decided not to do anything. The principal I spoke to from my sons school was very polite about the matter and told me she had family that was in the military. She advised me that the schools did things the previous years such as planting weeping cherry trees in honor of the victims of 9/11. This year the district obviously changed their stance on the incident. She told me she disagreed with the decision and that they were having a meeting on how to handle 9/11 in the future and stated she would relay my concerns at the meeting.