Ducey announces plans to work with educators, lawmakers to require 9/11 education
Sep 11, 2021, 10:00 AM
High school students draw the Twin Towers and write messages on the sidewalk in front of their school on September 11, 2017 in New York, in observance of 16th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The attack, deadliest ever on US soil, killed 2,997 people, and plunged the United States into a chain of rolling wars against Islamic militants. (Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images)
(Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images)
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday announced plans to work with educators and lawmakers to pass legislation guaranteeing 9/11 education in K-12 schools.
Currently, 14 states require students receive instructions about 9/11, and Arizona is not one of them, Ducey’s office said in a press release. Only “broad references” to 9/11 and terrorism are included in the state’s economic standards.
Ducey, along with the Arizona State Board of Education, educators and members of the state Legislature are working to add to that list.
Ramping up education in schools can also potentially combat misinformation and conspiracy theories that have circulated on the internet. Twenty years have passed and a Google search of “9/11 conspiracy theories” approaches 8 million hits.
Adding to that, most students enrolled in K-12 school were born after 2001.
“We are now at a point where Arizonans of a certain age have no direct recollection of the pain and anger we felt two decades ago when terrorists attacked our country, or the resolve and courage demonstrated in the days that followed,” Ducey said.
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“For this reason, my office will work with educators and lawmakers to introduce, pass and sign legislation that guarantees the next generation of Arizonans never forget what happened on September 11, 2001.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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