One Year Later, Educators Deciding How to Teach US Capitol Riot

Last January, thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump¹ carried out a deadly attack and occupation of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The violence took place as lawmakers were meeting to officially declare Joe Biden, a Democrat², the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

This January, teachers across the United States are deciding how to teach and talk about the attack.

What students learn may depend on where they live.

In an area outside Boston, Massachusetts, history teacher Justin Voldman said his students will spend the day of January 6th writing about what happened and talking about how a democracy can be easily damaged.

Voldman said he feels lucky to teach in a state where most people are Democrats³. "There are other parts of the country where ... I would be scared to be a teacher," he said.

Liz Wagner is a social studies teacher near Des Moines, Iowa. The state increasingly votes Republican in local and national elections. She got an email from an administrator⁴ last year, warning teachers to be careful in how they present the discussion of the violence.

Some of Wagner's students questioned her last year when she described what happened on January 6th as an insurrection. She answered by having the students read the dictionary definition for the word. This year, she said she will probably show students videos of the protest and ask them to write about what the images show.

"This is kind of what I have to do to ensure that I'm not upsetting anybody," Wagner said.

Talking about what happened on January 6th is increasingly difficult for teachers. They must decide how — or whether — to educate their students about the event. And the lessons sometimes depend on whether they are in a state that is majority Democratic or majority Republican.

Facing History and Ourselves is a nonprofit group that helps teachers with difficult lessons on subjects such as the Holocaust⁵. Immediately after last year's riot, it offered suggestions on how to talk about the event with students.

Abby Weiss oversees⁶ the development of the group's teaching tools.

In the year since the attack, she said, Republican lawmakers in some states have pushed for legislation to limit the teaching of material that explores how race and racism⁷ influence American politics, culture and law.

Racial discussions are hard to avoid when talking about the riot; white supremacists were among those who broke into the Captiol building.

Anton Schulzki is president of the National Council for the Social Studies. He is also a teacher in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He said students are often the ones bringing up racial issues during his lessons.

Last year, he had just begun discussing the riot when one of his students said, "'You know, if those rioters were all Black, they'd all be arrested by now."

Paula Davis is a middle school teacher in rural Indiana. She is also an area leader for Moms for Liberty, a group whose members have protested face coverings and vaccine⁸ requirements in recent months. She mostly teaches math and English and does not plan to discuss January 6th in her classroom.

But she said for teachers who do teach about the event, it is important not to show any bias⁹. Bias is a tendency to believe that some people or ideas are better than others. It usually results in treating some people unfairly.

"If it cannot be done without bias," Davis said of the lessons, "then it should not be done."

There is no way middle school teacher Dylan Huisken will avoid the issue in his classroom in Bonner, Montana. He said he plans to use the anniversary to teach his students to use their voice by doing things like writing to lawmakers.

He added that not teaching about the attack suggests to students that the "civic¹⁰ ideals we teach...don't have any real-world application."

Words in This Story

dictionary - n. a reference book that contains words listed in alphabetical¹¹ order and that gives information about the words' meanings, forms, pronunciations, etc...

ensure - v. to make (something) sure, certain, or safe

tendency - n. a quality that makes something likely to happen or that makes someone likely to think or behave in a particular way

ideal - n. an idea or standard of perfection or excellence¹²

white supremacist - n. a person who believes that the white race is better than all other races and should have control over all other races

application - n. the use of an idea, method, law, etc., in a particular situation or for a particular purpose

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

5 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

6 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

7 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

8 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

9 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

10 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

11 alphabetical   

adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的

参考例句：

• Please arrange these books in alphabetical order.请把这些书按字母顺序整理一下。
• There is no need to maintain a strict alphabetical sequence.不必保持严格的字顺。

12 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。