Last year’s terrorist attacks had not only impacts on people’s lives, but also on history textbooks.

Mark Barloon, lecturer of history, sees Sept. 11 as a valid part of history that cannot to be avoided.

“A million years down the road it may be just a footnote,” he said. But now “it’s not an event that should ever be forgotten.”

Though this is his first semester not teaching history and education methods classes, Clair Keller, a retired professor, has some ideas of how the events of Sept. 11 can be taught now and in the future.

There are many topics that can relate to the terrorist attacks, but true learning comes through discussion, Keller said.

For example, the attack on Pearl Harbor can be compared to Sept. 11.

“It’s an opportunity to look at different kinds of events and how people react,” Keller said.

There is also the comparison to “the war on terrorism” and other wars in the past.

“This is one of the few wars that we aren’t asking anyone to sacrifice but the people on the front lines,” he said. But financially, “we are putting the debt on our children,” Keller said.

For someone teaching government classes, a “more rewarding” lesson from Sept. 11 would be the conflict between freedom and security.

“The pendulum swings from freedom to security, back and forth,” Keller said. “Countries that have freedom are much more vulnerable to these kinds of attacks.”

Because of the attack, the pendulum is currently moving away from freedom as people desire more security, he said.

However, the balance constantly changes.

“There are no absolutes,” Keller said.