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Article: Second fiddle to fear.(Alien and Sedition Act of 1798)(teaching immigration law)
- Article from:
- Phi Delta Kappan
- Article date:
- April 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Most of us believe that by learning about the past, students can better prepare for the future. As a teacher of U.S. history, I certainly believed it, and for seven years I enthusiastically led my students on an exploration of the American past--until history caught up with me.
I taught at a private secondary school for girls in a town that had lost a disproportionately high number of people in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. Perhaps as a consequence, I found that even two years later, student attitudes toward government policy, patriotism, and historical events in general were hampering my ability to create citizens who understood and would ...