Jerusalem Post: Direct memory of the September 11 attacks is fading in the US
An increasing number of people in the United States perceive the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as a historical event rather than a personal experience. This was reported by the Jerusalem Post, which analyzed changes in how the topic is taught in schools, public attitudes, and media coverage of the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
According to the publication, more than 100 million Americans were born after 2001 or were too young to remember the events of that day. A YouGov poll conducted in August 2026 among 1,098 adult US residents found that 46% of respondents first learned about September 11 from the news. Among people aged 18 to 29, 37% studied the topic at school, while 6% said they had never heard of these events.
Uneven teaching in schools
The United States has no single mandatory curriculum on the September 11 terrorist attacks. Only 14 states, including New York, Texas, Illinois, and California, directly mention the topic in their social studies standards. In the remaining 36 states, the decision on teaching it is left to school districts and teachers.
University of Wisconsin–Madison professors Jeremy Stoddard and Diana Hess described an approach in 2021 in which the topic is raised mainly on the anniversary of the tragedy. They noted that such teaching often does not include a detailed examination of the history of US policy in the Middle East and Afghanistan, as well as the preconditions for the emergence of al-Qaeda.
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Political differences
The publication notes that Americans’ attitudes toward the consequences of the attacks have also changed. According to a 2021 Pew survey, 69% of respondents believed that the United States had mostly failed to achieve its goals in Afghanistan. That same year, a Washington Post–ABC poll showed that 46% of respondents believed that the events of September 11 changed the country for the worse, while 33% spoke of changes for the better.
The article also provides data on partisan differences in perceptions of the anniversary. In particular, 13% of Democrats believed that Americans devote too much attention to September 11, while 43% of Republicans said that not enough attention is paid to it. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to support the idea of making September 11 a national holiday.
The language of memory
The Jerusalem Post notes that official statements and memorial texts more often use wording about people who “lost their lives” or “died,” instead of defining them as having been killed in a terrorist attack. The author believes that combining such language with inconsistent teaching may weaken understanding that nearly 3,000 people were killed in planned al-Qaeda attacks.
