September 11 a turning point in U.S. history
By Michael Pommier
Herald-Tribune
When people think of an American History class, they often think about the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, yet not many people think about teaching the historic event that occurred 10 years ago on Sunday. For Fort Scott Community College history professor John Seal, the education on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, began immediately as he knew quickly that the event that transpired that day would be a turning point in the history of the United States of America.
Seal said he was teaching when it happened and he began teaching right away. In the 10 years that have passed since then his instructional method has changed. At first his instruction consisted mostly of presenting the facts that were known but he quickly learned that there was a great deal of prejudice toward the Islamic culture.
Currently in his African American History course Seals focuses on the impact the terrorist attacks had on civil rights. He said that they have discussions on what civil rights were taken away as a result of the events and how they are still felt 10 years later.
"It violated America, but it also robbed us of some civil rights," he said. "If you don't believe me go to an airport and you'll know what I'm talking about."
In all his classes, Seal tries to teach tolerance. He said he has begun to teach about the Islamic culture and about why they believed the attacks were necessary. He said he tries to teach the students that not all Muslims are extremists or terrorists.
"I try to get them to understand that not all Muslims are bad ... we have to open our mind up to all kinds of people," he said. "This is Fort Scott, Kansas ... we're not as diverse as some schools. You don't have a Muslim in class, in some cases, sometimes you do, but not very many; whereas maybe in a larger school you might have several Muslims and they can give you the viewpoint."
Seal said that it is important to educate the students that while Islamic terrorists were responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, they cannot be singled out as the only terrorists that exist in the world.
With the expressionary freedoms that come with college campuses, Seal said he has had some great discussions. In his classes he covers the full events, including the conspiracy theories that go along with them. One of the most common is surrounding Osama Bin Laden. Seal said it is great when a student expresses his/her belief in a conspiracy theory and another student has a relative fighting overseas.
"That's what you get in there ... you get both view points," "You get to do that, at least at the college level, there's a dialogue that can be established. That's what I like about it ... that's what you need, they need to be thinking about this, they need to go through what happened and not let it happen again."