Sept. 11 fades for NY’s kids — schools must teach its heroism

Millions of New Yorkers remain scarred by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists stole almost 3,000 innocent lives and made our state into Ground Zero for the worst terror attack America has ever suffered.

But for today’s K-12 students, 9/11 is not memory — it is history.

None of them were alive to experience it.

That’s why we, the parents, educators and leaders who lived it, have a responsibility to ensure they never forget it.

As a father of two elementary-aged children, I feel this urgency deeply.

My kids don’t remember the sight of smoke billowing from Lower Manhattan, or recall the shock of learning that four planes had been hijacked.

They cannot know the grief of attending funerals day after day.

For them, the story of 9/11 is only as real as what we choose to teach.

Yet in classrooms across New York, this instruction is inconsistent, abridged or just unconscionably brief.

The State Education Department provides school districts with guidance regarding 9/11 curriculum, but it fails to adequately recognize the day’s significance, or the changed world that it created.

It was not just another historical event, but a defining moment for our state, our country and the free world.

That is why I have introduced legislation in the state Assembly to require structured, consistent 9/11 education in all our schools.

The bill would ensure that our students learn about the attacks themselves — the hijackings, the collapse of the towers, the attack on the Pentagon and the heroism aboard Flight 93.

But the curriculum it envisions would go beyond the headlines.

Students should also understand the human stories, particularly those of the first responders who charged into the towers and never came out — local heroes like FDNY firefighter Joseph Spor Jr. of Somers, who left behind a wife and five children.

They should know the story of firefighter Stephen Siller of Staten Island, who strapped on 60 pounds of gear and ran toward the disaster through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.

Siller’s run inspired the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which today serves countless first-responder families.

Second, instruction should include survivor testimony and primary sources.

When the Tunnel to Towers Mobile Exhibit visited my district last year, students saw twisted steel pulled from the rubble, listened to first-hand accounts and walked through the timeline of that day — one of the most powerful educational experiences I’ve ever witnessed.

All New York students should access similar resources, along with digital archives and classroom visits from survivors and first responders.

Students must also learn about the ongoing impact of post-9/11 illnesses, to understand that the tragedy of these attacks did not end on that day.

As The Post reported this week, the number of cancers linked to 9/11’s toxic dust cloud have skyrocketed.

Teaching about these long-term consequences is essential for students to grasp the attack’s full legacy of horror.

Finally, New York’s 9/11 education program must extend through all grades, with material that’s both age-appropriate and comprehensive.

For elementary students, that may mean an emphasis on the stories of helpers and heroes, while middle schoolers can explore the historical timeline.

High school students can study the political, military and cultural consequences of 9/11, as well as the radicalization that fueled the attacks.

This will ensure every New Yorker graduates with a deep and lasting understanding of what that day meant — and why it still matters.

Our state has already enacted a similar law regarding Holocaust education, requiring it by statute due to its historic importance.

9/11 deserves the same treatment: New York was not just a witness to this tragedy, but its target and its symbol.

And if we do not act now, we risk allowing its memory to wane as one generation fades into the next.

This is not a partisan issue. On 9/11, Democrats and Republicans stood together on the steps of the US Capitol to sing “God Bless America.”

Today, we should come together with the same spirit to honor those we lost, to support the families still grieving and to ensure our children inherit a full understanding of that day.

The students sitting in New York’s classrooms today may be the last generation to grow up surrounded by those who remember 9/11 firsthand.

The window is closing.

If we fail to act, the stories will be harder to tell, the lessons harder to teach and the sacrifices easier to forget.

We owe it to the fallen, to the families and to New York’s identity.

“Never Forget” cannot be just a slogan.

It must be a promise — one we keep by teaching it to New York’s children.

Matt Slater represents the 94th District in the New York state Assembly.