A field of flags for a 9/11 memorial, planted by organizers at the Young America’s Foundation, is seen outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Sept. 11, 2025, the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks against the US.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images/TNS
As September begins, many Americans across the country prepare to honor those lost on 9/11. Whether it be family, friends, strangers, or the heroes that we lost, everyone pays their respect.
This year especially, people are gathering all over to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. But as we talk about 9/11, there are some memories that many don’t talk about.
Specifically for Gen Z, there are conflicted and disturbing memories associated with the teaching of the history of 9/11.
In elementary school, we are taught about 9/11 every September during social studies or history classes. Sometimes, teachers would dedicate an entire week to learning about 9/11, and on the day itself they would talk about all the events that transpired that day.
There was only one issue that many had when being taught about 9/11: the lessons didn’t spare any details of the gruesome deaths, suicides, and other horrific events that happened that day.
Some may not find an issue with this, considering these things did happen and should be remembered.
That’s not the issue—the issue is that they showed those things to young, impressionable elementary students every single year.
I have very vivid memories of being in third grade, and the entire grade being taken to the lunchroom to talk about 9/11. It was my first time ever hearing about it, so I was completely clueless.
The teachers talked about their own experience with 9/11 and how they remembered that day. After that, they proceeded to show us videos of people jumping from the towers, people calling their families to tell them goodbye, and people calling 911 to tell them they were going to kill themselves.
I remember the agonized voices telling their spouses they were going to kill themselves and that they loved them. I remember how the bodies fell and how the people at the bottom screamed in horror as more people fell to their deaths.
It didn’t stop there. After that, every following year I remember being shown countless pictures and videos of more people dying and suffering. That is where my issue lies.
I definitely think that children should learn about a historic event such as 9/11; it’s a part of history that will never be erased. Showing children such graphic videos is not necessary at all.
Looking back, I can’t fathom how our public schools even came to the conclusion that showing eight year olds live footage of people committing suicide was the way to go about it. I’ve had many friends tell me they were shown similar videos since kindergarten.
Not only was showing these videos to children a terrible idea, the effects it had on us as we grew up were also awful.
As I mentioned before, classes continued to show the same videos and audios of people jumping off buildings and calling their loved ones. Watching something like that at a young age doesn’t leave you unscathed.
After a while, you slowly start to get desensitized to it and have no emotion towards it at all.
When I got to middle school, the topic of 9/11 no longer felt like a tragedy to me at all. That somber and dreadful feeling that the day used to be filled with no longer resided with me; it just felt like a normal day.
It was like that for a while, until I got halfway through high school and talked with teachers about how they taught us about 9/11. The look of horror on their face as I explained how old I was when they showed us all of this started to sound some alarms in my head.
Apparently, it was not normal to show eight year olds videos of people dying.
That’s not something you can easily come back from, though. It took a while for me to start recognizing the emotion and reality behind these tragedies.
This was a real event with real lives lost, not just a day in class where I knew teachers were going to put on the same movie and videos.
As the 25th anniversary passes, it’s important to remember and honor all those we lost. I also think it’s an important time to learn and teach younger generations how to process grief, and remember that fateful day.
**Correction: caption reformatted 9/17/26**
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