Ignorance of 9/11

So some of you know that I tutor on the side. One of the kids I tutor is an eleven year old sixth grader named Kenny. I forget how it came up but I related something that we were working on to the 9/11 attacks. He had a puzzled look on his face. To my disbelief, he had absolutely no idea how what I was talking about. I tried explaining it further to see if I could jog his memory. No luck. In my mind, I was like "what the f**k?" I realize he's only eleven but how could he not know about this? This being probably the single greatest, most historic event in US history, someone really dropped the ball. I mean, the attack on Pearl Harbor happened some 42 years before I was born, but I knew about it when I was eleven. This kid was born three years before the attacks.

One would think he would have at least overheard people talking about it or heard something on the news, school, parents, etc. I sure didn't want to be the one to tell him about it. I think a sixth grader is plenty old enough to understand and comprehend this sort of thing. Way to go OSPI and/or the US Department of Education. How about adapting your curriculum to include recent historic events such as this? Nope, sixth grade social science lessons still include stuff like irrigation, geography, and Hiawatha, who died like 500 years ago.

The system is messed up!

Click to see Washington state sixth grade standards for Social Studies.

Contact Kelly Martin, Social Studies program supervisor at OSPI to complain
360-725-6351
Or Email