It was one Tuesday in September of 2001, the 11th to be precise, when something happened that changed the world forever. This is the date of the largest terrorist attack in the world. In the morning, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked 4 American flights destined to travel to the West Coast and crashed them. Nothing has been the same since.
On that doomed day that we call 9/11 because of the date and the 9-1-1 emergency call line (coincidence or not?), the United Airlines flight 175 and American Airlines flight 11 struck the two twin towers in New York, resulting in their collapse. The third plane, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. The second, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in Shanksville when passengers tried to subdue the terrorists and stormed the cockpit.
The result of this attack was almost 3,000 deaths and a mark on the US people, the politics, and the education that lasts to this very day. This event reshaped the response to terrorism on a whole new level and raised troubling questions about security.
In this article, we’ll expand on how the event changed education, society, as well as politics in the world.
How 9/11 Changed Education
To this day, 9/11 is one of the most frequently chosen topics for research papers and argumentative essay papers. Politics, sociology, and psychology students talk about the event in their thesis statement, discussing the repercussions of 9/11 for the world and society. If you are interested to read more about this, you can access a collection of essay examples on 9/11 to get some insights. Reading examples helps students get ideas for their papers, as well as keeps them informed on important topics like this one.
The world of education has been impacted severely after the attack. Following that day, teachers returned to classes full of confused, enraged, and scared children and young people. No one knew how to explain such a horrible event, or make students feel safe and come to grips with what happened.
Soon enough, this was entered in the curriculum in subjects like History. Imagine teaching students that went through that period or being an educator that was a witness to that horrible event – maybe even lost people in it.
Even today, teachers face the same challenge, but in addition to that, they fight to beat discrimination which only became stronger after the event. As we’ll discuss below, because of the perpetrators, society has turned to racial prejudice and hatred toward others, forming groups and opinions that aren’t eliminated from the US schools even today.
How 9/11 Changed Society
The events of 9/11 completely reshaped the global response to terrorism. People became more scared than ever. This also raised troubling questions about the treatment of prisoners, and changed the US immigration policies almost instantly.
As a result, society experienced a surge in racial profiling, hate crimes, and discrimination.
Even though things have changed a lot over the years, the fear is still there – and so is discrimination and racial profiling. Bush attempted to calm society and direct people’s anger toward the individuals that committed the crime. Tragically, people judged everyone for this, including many innocent Muslim Americans – and some still do this.
Soon after this, the US entered the longest war in its history, one that cost them $8 trillion and many lives. The war after the terrorist attack caused the death of over 900,000 people, so we can certainly say that 3,000 wasn’t the final number of 9/11.
Even today, the demonization i.e. anti-Muslim bias is a persistent feature of society.
How 9/11 Changed Politics
As we said, the racial bias and discrimination are very present in the world today, including the world of politics. Law enforcement agencies started detaining thousands of Middle Eastern or South Asian men, and agents were actively infiltrating the Arab American communities.
In Iraq detention centers and in Guantanamo Bay, US military personnel was torturing and abusing Muslims, leading to their dehumanization in the eyes of the people.
Right after the attack, all political parties joined forces, which is a rarity in the world. However, things started worsening soon after. In a climate of fear, hostility for Muslim people became a wedge issue in politics.
Just think about Trump’s mentions of Obama as a non-real American president, or his statement that thousands of Muslims cheered the 9/11 events. Soon after, the president suspended academic visits, and even tourism from many Muslim countries.
As we can see, the effects of 9/11 are very present today in our lives, especially in the world of politics. Seeing how politicians have a big impact on people’s opinions and feelings, this just increases their fear and racial bias.
Two decades later, and 9/11 is still harming our world.
