By Amellia Fowler

UW–Madison’s Jeremy Stoddard, a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and a researcher with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, was interviewed by Wisconsin Public Radio about how middle and high school students are taught about the September 11 attacks.

In the Weekend Edition Sunday segment, Stoddard discusses the challenges teachers face when teaching students about the events leading up to and following 9/11.

He notes that teachers often share their own experiences that day, emphasizing both the shock of the attacks and how the U.S and much of the rest of the world came together in response.

“If you treat it as this one emotional collective memory moment … students aren’t really connecting to all the things that have come since it,” Stoddard says.

Stoddard goes on to discuss alternative approaches, including connecting the attacks with historical events. “We encourage teachers to use the events of the day as a starting point to inquire either into the events that came before it, such as the role of the U.S. in Afghanistan in the 1970s, or what happened in the response and sort of connect that to what’s (happening) today.”

The interview also explores the rise of Islamophobia following the 9/11 attacks and how its effects continue to be felt today.

“The portrayal of Muslim Americans and Arab Americans in the wake of (9/11) is often something that is left out,” Stoddard says. Stoddard pointed to evidence from the period immediately following the attacks, including articles in Arab American magazines and speeches by President George W. Bush, where there was an awareness of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment arising and a need to counter it.

Listen to the full Weekend Edition Sunday segment to learn more.