by Isabel Joyce
Fewer and fewer students can clearly remember the terror of the day four U.S. airplanes were hijacked by members of al-Qaeda and caused the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to crumble. However, despite the fact that most high school students were under the age of three or four at the time, recognizing the lost lives of over 3,000 U.S. citizens on the devastating day is not something that should be overlooked.
The moment of silence was removed in 2011 as an annual tradition in the North community. However this year, students asked to bring the tradition back, arguing that the importance of 9/11 is an essential part of our history and students should continue to remember the day in a moment of silence.
Bringing back the moment of silence on 9/11 was undoubtedly the right call. In the future, however, a school-wide moment of silence should be reinstated. Students had to go out of their way and pardon their absences with teachers in order to show their respects in an optional moment of silence in the auditorium for 10 or 15 minutes during homeroom.
The original tradition of having a moment of silence during homeroom over the loudspeaker would have been the better and more accessible, option; all students could participate in a moment that should be remembered as a significant part in U.S. history without having to excuse themselves from homeroom. Perhaps in history classes as well, 9/11 should serve as a day in which teachers reflect back on the event with students.
Even though the pain of 9/11 seems to fade with each year, recognizing and mourning the lives of the men and women who died needs to continue to be an important part of our community.
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Column: Moment of Silence reinstated, side-note during school day
September 15, 2015
Interim principal Mark Aronson speaks to students in the SOA before the moment of silence. Photo by Josh Shub-Seltzer.
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