What is Holding American Education Back? The Politics of Developing a Public School Curriculum about 9/11 and its Aftermath

This thesis begins to discuss why the United States has yet to develop public school curriculum standards for teaching about 9/11, the War on Terror, terrorism, and Islam. My first chapter looks at the relationship between the American “culture wars” and education since the country’s founding. It demonstrates how the politics of culture have not only permeated schools, but have been the determining factor on what topics are covered and enforced in school curriculum. I conclude that standards have yet to be developed because the perception of America’s “identity” is always evolving, changing, and perpetually unsolved. My second chapter heavily revolves around the history of education reform in the United Kingdom and how their government not only came to see the positive benefits of civic education, but a civic education that is multicultural in nature. I explain how the 7/7 terrorist attack and London’s first instance of homegrown terrorism impacted the UK’s decision to mandate a multicultural civic education. This education focused on strengthening their minority population's British and homeland identities in an attempt to strengthen minority trust for British government. My third chapter consists of two teacher interviews and a statistical analysis on the relationship between what students at Union College learned about 9/11, the War on Terror, and Islam and their political opinions. I conclude that there is a relationship between receiving a less multicultural education on Islam and preferring more conservative Islam related policies.Therefore, what we learn gravely impacts our future political climate. My fourth chapter is a discussion on whether multicultural education in the UK is successful or in reality a violation of human rights law. I move back into a discussion on new American factors preventing education standards such as how the Obama and Trump administrations have recently framed homegrown terrorism. Lastly, I conclude that a multicultural education that tackles issues such as Islam and global terrorism could potentially influence the way American students perceive their own culture in light of other cultures around the world, increase their capacity to empathize, and ultimately widen their “circle of care”.