“Is he the one who did 9/11?” say Nation’s High Schoolers Following George H. W. Bush Memorial

By Christian Villanueva

Dec. 4, 2018

On November 30, 2018, former president George H.W. Bush passed away in Houston, Texas at the age of 94. While millions across the nation mourned the death of the 41st President of the United States, high school students were unsure of who Bush was.

The former president was widely known for his administration’s stance on international relations and foreign affairs, yet when questioned about Bush, local high school student Kevin Smith replied, “Is he the one who did 9/11?” It would appear current high schoolers simply don’t know anything about former presidents or the events that occurred on September 11, 2001.

News outlets across the country reported mixed findings when conducting surveys at local high schools. For example, the New York Daily Star, the epitome of journalistic integrity, disclosed that upon asking high school students who George H.W. Bush was, they responded, “Isn’t he the old white one?” which surprisingly did not prompt further questioning given that the student’s description eliminated just one of 45 Presidents in the nation’s history. “Yeah, they probably had a good grasp on who he was,” explained Mark Weinberg of the Daily Star, “It would have been redundant to keep asking.”

In Florida’s panhandle, interest in recent national news was low. When questioned on the reaction of her peers to the news of a President’s death, Julie Moore claimed, “I have seen no difference,” before adding, “but people were really upset our school’s mascot, an albino gator, accidentally ingested crack and had to be rushed to the animal ER, that’s probably been the biggest news here.”

In LA county, reporters interviewed high school juniors, finding that they too had no idea who the former President was. Interestingly, rather than accept he did not know who the veteran-turned-President was, one student elected to play it off as though he did know who Bush was. Edgar Christensen, when asked his opinions of the President’s foreign policies, explained, “Well, he abolished slavery so naturally we do stan that in this house, but I’ve gotta say, the war on Afghanistan and the housing crisis were not as cool as they could have been, you know what I mean?” Many students nodded in agreement as Christensen spoke.

George H.W. Bush is to be laid to rest in the coming days at Texas A&M, but apparently that doesn’t matter to anyone younger than 18.