CINCINNATI — It’s been one year since the riots at the U.S Capitol, but even after a year has passed, some still are unsure how to talk about the events that transpired that day. Some educators are saying it’s extremely important to include the riots at the Capitol in the history books.

Sarah Stitzlein, a professor of education at the University of Cincinnati, said it’s imperative to do so, especially in the classroom.

“It is important to talk about in the classroom," Stitzlein said. "Especially our social studies and history teachers recognize the grand significance of what happened on January 6th, how rare this is historically, but also what it reveals about problems in our democracy.”

Stitzlein said the general consensus among her and other educators is to bring up the days’ events in the classroom, especially because she believes lessons can be learned from history.

“What we’re not addressing in our classrooms is actually is happening with the messiness of democracy outside our classrooms," she said. "And the insurrection is a prime example of that where democracy is not working well and where it’s struggling."

Stitzlein shares that while it may be difficult to talk through an event that can be controversial, she said as long as the facts are presented rather than beliefs, then it’s an important lesson to share.

“What I’d like to see teachers doing is drawing connections between what happened on Jan. 6 and what’s happened in the past in the United States," Stitzlein said. "Examples of sedition, examples of pubic protest, to show how those historical examples are similar to and different from what happened on Jan. 6.”

Some textbook manufacturers agree. McGraw Hill, a textbook company out of Columbus, said it will be including events from Jan. 6 in new editions of their books.

“As our content and curriculum are updated for new editions of our social studies programs, events such as Jan. 6 (as well as many other recent events of historical importance such as the 2020 election, the Trump presidency, the COVID-19 pandemic and more) would certainly be covered in age- and grade-appropriate ways – and aligned to state standards and local school district needs," McGraw Hill said in a statement.

And while things in our world still seem just as divided as they did a year ago, Stitzlein hopes down the road we will be able to learn from our history.

“Hopefully we’ll have a little bit more of the hindsight that comes with time to help us make sense of what exactly happened," Stitzlein said. "What led up to it and what the results and implications are.”