The Trump administration is offering American teachers new guidance on how to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 2001 terror attacks for this generation of students who weren’t alive during the ground-shaking day in history.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon is suggesting “incorporating an age-appropriate lesson about 9/11, a moment of silence to mark the time the first plane struck the World Trade Center, or by asking students to share their own reflections” on Sept. 11, according to a letter released Thursday.
“A quarter century has passed since that terrible day, but we must never forget what September 11th means for the United States,” McMahon said. “This year, I call on American schools to educate students with moral clarity about the events of that day and its significance for the Nation’s history.”
At least 2,977 people were killed in the attacks, including heroes who braved Ground Zero, assisted victims in evacuating or fought back against the al-Qaeda terrorists that hijacked one of the four planes.
The first hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 11, flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
Both towers fell that morning, and the Pentagon was hit by a third plane. The fourth flight crashed before hitting its intended target, with passengers charging the cockpit and the plane later hitting a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
McMahon is also asking the educators to teach “real stories of individuals whose courage continues to define the legacy of 9/11 — such as the passengers of United Flight 93,” Welles Crowther and Lieutenant Colonel Marilyn Wills.
Also known as the “Man in the Red Bandana,” Crowther helped save more than a dozen people from the World Trade Center before its collapse. He was serving at the time as a volunteer firefighter in Nyack, NY.
The 24-year-old was discovered months after the tragedy and identified by the red bandana he wore while helping others evacuate, a memento from his childhood, his mother said.
President Trump posthumously awarded him the Medal of Freedom earlier this year.
Wills also helped save lives on 9/11 by forming a “human chain” with colleagues to evacuate the Pentagon.
“Tomorrow, please provide your students with the opportunity to honor the victims, heroic first responders, great patriots, and the service members who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country on September 11th and in the ensuing global war on terrorism, and their surviving family members who carry their legacy forward,” McMahon said.
The missive was accompanied by a letter from Trump marking Sept. 11 as “Patriot Day” and ordering American flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of the victims of the terror attacks.
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