[ti:Many Issues Make September 11 a Difficult Subject to Teach] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Nagla Bedir did not talk about the September 11 [00:04.88]terrorist attacks with her high school students last year. [00:09.88]The New Jersey teacher was holding classes online [00:13.92]because of the pandemic, [00:15.76]and it was a discussion she only wanted to have in person. [00:21.80]This year, on the 20th anniversary and with the Afghanistan war ending, [00:28.52]September 11 – or 9/11 – is an issue she cannot avoid. [00:36.92]She has questions she plans to ask students [00:40.52]in her international diplomacy class: What do you know about 9/11, [00:46.80]why it happened, and what happened afterwards? [00:51.08]And how is it connected to Afghanistan? [00:55.64]"I think it's really important that teachers [00:59.56]don't shy away from teaching about these things," Bedir said. [01:04.88]She is a co-founder of the organization Teaching While Muslim. [01:10.96]Many educators worry about teaching anything [01:14.32]that is considered political, she said. [01:18.16]"I think it's really unfortunate," Bedir added, "because [01:22.48]there is so much misinformation and disinformation in the world." [01:29.08]Today's students do not remember September 11, [01:32.96]but they have heard about it all their lives. [01:37.12]Jennifer Grygiel is a professor at Syracuse University in New York. [01:43.64]She researches social media and the internet. [01:48.44]She said that if students are not given factual information [01:52.76]that helps them understand what happened and why, [01:56.68]students could start to believe conspiracies – theories [02:01.24]that claim an event was a secret plan [02:04.08]carried out by usually powerful people or groups. [02:09.84]"In the absence of information, people go online," Grygiel said. [02:17.00]Kathy Durham is a history teacher in the state of Nevada. [02:22.28]She uses 9/11 to teach her high school students about primary sources. [02:28.76]She shows her students documentary films and old news coverage. [02:34.80]She also requires them to talk to adults who remember that day. [02:41.12]Sometimes students claim the attacks [02:44.16]were a government conspiracy. [02:46.92]Durham said she pushes them [02:49.28]to examine the truthfulness of sources and evidence. [02:55.16]"It's really, really a delicate thing, [02:58.08]because my job is to teach kids to think [03:01.72]and not tell them what to think," Durham said. [03:07.08]Some schools teach about 9/11 around the anniversary [03:11.96]or briefly discuss it in history classes. [03:16.00]But the way the attacks are taught are often up to the teacher, [03:21.04]even in states where 9/11 lessons are required. [03:28.00]Teaching 9/11 "has largely been memorializing the events [03:33.32]versus really digging into the context of 9/11 [03:37.56]and the ongoing sort of results of 9/11," said Jeremy Stoddard. [03:44.40]He is a University of Wisconsin professor [03:47.60]who has researched the subject. [03:51.76]In the years immediately after the attacks, [03:55.16]9/11 was a very emotional subject for students. [04:00.44]But with students now distanced from it, [04:03.60]it can be difficult keeping students interested, said Anthony Gardner. [04:09.52]He is the founder of the September 11th Education Trust. [04:15.72]The organization recently released a plan [04:19.08]to help teachers use 9/11-related lessons [04:23.16]on the anniversary as well as throughout the year. [04:28.60]Gardner, who lost his brother on 9/11, [04:32.56]said it is important that students hear about people who died that day, [04:37.60]related deaths that came later, and the lessons learned. [04:44.20]Corey Winchester is a high school history teacher in Illinois. [04:50.44]He tries to teach about 9/11 not just as a single event, [04:55.88]but "something that we're still interacting with." [05:01.24]For some teachers, telling personal stories [05:04.80]helps students learn the wide effects of 9/11. [05:09.76]Liz Prince is having her fifth graders in Mississippi [05:14.00]record a discussion with someone they know [05:17.16]about a September 11 experience. [05:21.76]Back in New Jersey, Bedir plans to teach what happened [05:26.56]and then have students explore the U.S. involvement [05:30.16]in Afghanistan before 2001. [05:34.24]She will also share her own experience, [05:36.96]when she was a student herself. [05:40.56]Bedir was 11 at the time and attending school. [05:45.68]The World Trade Center's Twin Towers [05:48.28]were visible from the school grounds. [05:52.52]Her parents feared for her safety [05:55.12]as anti-Muslim opinions grew after the attacks. [06:00.32]She said her parents stopped her from starting to wear a hijab. [06:05.68]She ended up waiting 10 more years before she covered her hair. [06:12.36]I'm Dan Novak. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM