GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Historians say what happened at the Capitol on Wednesday is unprecedented in American history.
Already local history teachers are hard at work to explain the events to their students.
“They’re probably going to look back on January 6th, 2021 and be like that was a pretty dark day in history,” UW-Green Bay student Justin Sonnentag told FOX 11.
“This was one of those you will remember when,” Preble High School teacher Jeff Kline said. “I remember where I was when Reagan was shot, I remember when the Columbia broke up, and the Challenger, and 9/11.”
But, for history teachers like Kline, on Thursday that meant they had to explain the history of the present moment.
“I made a concerted effort to focus on the facts, just the facts, and I went through a very simplistic method of: who, what, where, when, why, and how,” Kline explained.
Kline’s tells FOX 11 his lesson was made even more difficult amid the pandemic, as most students are learning remotely.
“You’re speaking to a screen of avatars and it’s tough to really know what they’re thinking, but some did participate in the chat. I made sure to stick around after the class was over and kids were released. I said if anyone wants to stay back and just talk to me, if you have questions, I will be happy to try and answer them.”
History teachers often teach their lessons by comparing the events to others from our country’s past; but for yesterday, they say there’s nothing to compare it to.
“Thinking about [events of] the last 24 hours and seeing if I can find any historical precedent, there really are no historical precedents,” Lawrence University history professor and writer Jerald Podair said.
With all that’s happened in the last year, history textbook authors might need some extra chapters.
“This has never really happened in American history and hopefully it will never happen again,” Podair said.
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