Is there any reason that second graders should be discussing planes flying into buildings, and watching videos showing the assholes that flew the planes? Any reason a seven year year old should be discussing why the people flying the planes didn't care about themselves and just wanted to kill as many people as they could? We went through this bullshit last year when the kids were a year younger. There is enough shit in life and it is not the school's place to be discussing the worst of it to six year olds. Maybe the teachers discussing these history lessons can think about framing it a little differently in the future.
Re: September 11th and grade school
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:38 pm
by Betsy Voinovich
Hi John,
Your post caused me to poll my kids on the way to bed. In my daughter's second grade class (Grant) 9/11 was not discussed at all. In my fourth grader's class (Lincoln) the teacher read a story about a tight rope walker going between the Twin Towers-- at the end of the story the buildings weren't there anymore. My daughter said there was no mention of airplanes or people dying, she said her teacher was sad. (She knows the basic story.) In my son's class (7th grade, Harding) their substitute Social Studies teacher asked them to think about what the Pledge of Allegiance meant on this day, and the Vice Principal came on the PA to ask for a moment of silence on the PA for the 9/11 victims after the announcements. My son (the 7th grader) and I talked about how I walked with him in his stroller through Lakewood on that gorgeous September day when he was one year old and all I could do was look at the bright blue sky and keep walking. No-one was out.
I'm with you on what second graders are exposed to. That's a lot to handle, and I want to be there when things like that are talked about. In fact, I want to be the one talking about it. My second grader knows that the buildings that were in the Godspell video aren't there anymore. She hasn't asked anymore and I won't tell her about it until she does. Not this year.
Betsy Voinovich
Here's that Godspell video. The innocence is mind-blowing.