The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 15

LIVING Tuesday, April 25, 1995 B3 liifc IJfljb The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution OsA Higher or lowers changes' in tuition start in summer Several readers have phoned in questions about the Board of Regents' new tuition policies taking effect this summer. Here are SchoolWatch a few things to keep in mind: All students at four-year schools will see a 5 percent increase in tuition. In addition to that increase, out-of-state 1 students will see the first of a four-step increase intended to make sure they pay for the entire cost of their education at a Georgia school. ft ml -m mm Currently, nonresident tuition covers only 75 percent of the cost to the institution and the state. The first nonresident increase will be $100 a Prosecutors and officers are talking to juveniles Cl obb County law enforcement officials say they are using several approaches to I stemming the county's rising juvenile crime problem.

Cobb Solicitor Ben Smith said one way he keeps kids out of court is by sending prosecutors into schools to explain the consequences of drunken driving, fighting and other common offenses. "Most kids don't realize they can get a permanent criminal record that prevents them from entering some careers," Smith said. "We'd like to get to them before they do something that can ruin their lives." Cobb Police Chief Culver Johnson takes a similar approach with officers volunteering to cook for school picnics, chaperone field trips, organize egg hunts and ball teams or "just roam the hallways between classes to rap with kids." New Directions helps Cobb juvenile court workers to gain the attention of kids who have taken the first steps over the line. The 6-year-old program, based upon the highly successful 1970s "Scared Straight" shock incarceration program at New Jersey's Rahway State Prison, puts juveniles in the county jail for a couple of hours to be confronted by inmates. Two times a month, males 12 to 17 receive a numbing barrage of feedback from men who regret having stayed on the path to crime.

Afterward, the boys are taken on an eye-opening tour of the Cobb Correctional Institute, which houses about 350 misdemeanor prisoners. Juvenile Court intake officer Susan Argo said "very few kids" have gone on to commit more serious offenses. the kids react very emotionally," Argo said. "At least one that I know got so emotional that he got sick at the end." And New Directions is not limited to kids who have been before a judge. Argo said: "Occasionally we get one through word of mouth from parents who say their child is having problems." bat "i 4 Aw quarter for four-year research and comprehensive schools, such as the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State.

At senior colleges, such as Kennesaw State and Clayton State, the increase will be $75. At two- year schools, such as DeKalb College and Atlanta Metro College, the increase will be $50. Those increases are the first of four. The next three will come in the summers of 1996, 1997 and 1998. When all four increases are in' effect, nonresident students at four-year researchcomprehensive universities will pay1 $700 more a quarter in addition to any across- the-board increases; at senior colleges $525 and at two-year colleges $275.

Students at two-year colleges will see a.S percent decrease beginning this summer, which LOUIE FAVORITE Staff DOUG CUMMING Staff will be a savings of about $18 at most There's one exception that regents did not make clear initially out-of-state students at two- year schools will not get the decrease. Instead' they will get a 5 percent increase along with the additional $50 increase. Larry Hall (right) takes the slogan on a poster by Rashon Mitchell (left) and what he's learning in class to heart by helping to keep Thurgood Marshall Middle School clean. Learning, providing a service teach students responsibility Reagan Walker Every note that comes homes to parents Don Plummer from school mentions a "he," never "she." Every note from the counselors, teachers, principal, has "he, he, he" for students. I'd like to know why.

It's time that we acknowledge that there are girls studying in the public school systems in America. Maya Nair, Kennesaw School systems in the metro area 1 I it, subject, from math to science to language arts. The concept has attracted broad support among educators and business leaders, from Atlanta's Superintendent Benjamin O. Canada to the Georgia Business Forum. But research on service learning shows mixed results.

Dave O'Neil, an education professor at Georgia State generally do not have a written policy specifically addressing gender sensitivity in written correspondence. Most systems attempt to keep written correspondence gender neutral. "As soon as you put the student ID number in the computer, the gender comes up, and you University who is monitoring the Geoffrey Ziering demonstrates his first-place mousetrap-powered car. SCIENCE OLYMPIAD: Chamblee High School in DeKalb County and Booth Middle state's projects, said the subject is too new to have amassed strong data showing aon't nave to ask that question," said Mary Maynard, associate superintendent for DeKalb County schools. "You would know right away if the student was a he or a she, even if you can't tell by the name.

Teachers writing home certainly should know their students well enough to write a gender-sensitive communication." improvements, in test scores and School in Fayette County will represent Georgia in the National Science Olympiad competition May 18-20 in Bloomington, Ind. The top-ranking elementary school in the state competition was grades. At Marshall, where teachers are being trained in service learning and work it into their daily team discussions, success will be measured by attendance Evansdale Elementary in DeKalb. The purpose of the Science Olympiad is to get youngsters involved with science in a tangible way. They Bernadette Burden rates, grades and "self-concept," built trajectory devices that used air pressure to IMljiilHiTil 1 community service movement that, advocates say, could save a very different kind of student.

Marshall, for example, is the sort of school that advocates say can benefit most from service learning. Ninety-one percent of its students qualify for subsidized lunches and its daily absentee rate is about 13 percent. Rashon has written a letter to Kmart about the gardens the students plan to create at personal care facilities. we need some utilsil to do our plan. The Elderle home is our plan we would be glad." He has also created a "clean school" poster.

And on a recent day when the sixth-graders stretched on latex gloves, scrubbed lockers with Lysol and filled plastic bags with trash and leaves outside, Rashon wrote on one of his "reflection" questions about the experience: "When you help other god bless you in his name." Service learning is a relatively new educational philosophy, rooted in the work of the National Youth Leadership Conference in St. Paul, and other agencies from Clemson, S.C., to Baltimore. Unlike pure community service, service learning sandwiches a do-good activity between "preparation" and "reflection" in the classroom. This pattern mixes the teaching of democratic citizenship the original mission of American public' education in the 19th century with contemporary educational principles that seek teamwork and active participation by students. Some programs, like the one at Marshall, infuse service learning into every By Doug Cumming STAFF WRITER The grammar and spelling "Elderle" are what you might expect from a sixth-grader making Cs and Ds.

But 12-year-old Rashon Mitchell is not just writing for his teachers now. For the past three weeks, he and his 236 fellow sixth-graders at Thurgood Marshall Middle School in southeast Atlanta have been applying their academic skills outside the classroom through community service projects specifically, beautifying the school grounds and adopting elder-care residents. They picked the projects themselves. The idea, being tried at seven Atlanta middle schools, is to give students responsibilities as citizens in hopes of turning failure and boredom into high-energy learning. Called service learning because it connects community service with classroom learning, such programs are under way in 16 Georgia school districts.

The three-year programs began recently with $480,000 from Learn and Service America, part of the Corporation for National Service started under President Bush and continuing under President Clinton. Unless, that is, Congress eliminates the corporation, as the House has voted to do as a budget-cutting measure. While today's celebration of National Youth Service Day evokes images of high-achieving college-age volunteers helping the needy, service learning remains the stepchild of the said Terrolyn Ponder, the lead teacher for the program there. But the most important benefit may be too subtle to be measured by test scores or MOTIVATIONAL SOFTWARE: The shoot rubber balls at a target and a mousetrap-powered car that traveled 60 feet. TRUMAN SCHOLARS: Two Georgia Tech students and an Atlanta student attending college out of state have been selected for the elite Truman Scholarship.

Monyette Childs of Madison and Ayodele grades. It is revealed, instead, in students at DeKalb's Hambrick Elementary School are improving their library access skills, thanks to a computer program that has completely automated the traditional card catalog file. The program, known as Winnebago, allows the stones teachers tell of students whose numbing anger or isolation cracks, if only a little. Ponder tells the story of Embry of Lexington, Ky4 both juniors at Tech, and Stacey M. Brandenburg, a junior political science major at the University of North Felicia, who has since moved out Carolina at Chapel Hill, will each receive $3,000 of state and out of touch.

Under a students to search for books the traditional way using an author, title or subject, or they can do a key word search. for their senior year and $27,000 for two or three years of graduate study. They are among 69 Truman scholars chosen nationally from a pool of 763 candidates. smaller service learning program at Marshall two years ago, Ponder said, Felicia changed from a self-absorbed, sloppy student to one who took more care for her work and her appearance. In a reflection, Felicia wrote The scholarships are given by the Harry S.

Truman Foundation to students with leadership potential who plan to pursue careers in government or public service. Childs plans to attend medical school and get after the death of a nursing home a master degree in public health. She would resident who had become her like to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or operate a health program in a friend that she regretted that she could not see him one more time. community center or school. Embry plans to pursue a master's degree in "She learned that time on this earth is limited," Ponder said.

"I education administration and a doctoral degree Before the computer program, students didn't bother to distinguish between the Dewey Decimal System and a decimal point. But Mary Thomas, Hambrick's media specialist, said the recent change in student attitudes and willingness to search for information has been one of the most exciting changes she has I witnessed in her 18 years in DeKalb schools. "This has been an excellent motivator," Thomas said. Students no longer walk in and ask: 'Do you have books on a Now they ask, 'How can I find a she said. Bernadette Burden SUMMER VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: If you are a professional, artisan, or tradesman who is passionate about a skill that you would like to teach, contact the Hands On Atlanta Citizen School Summer Program.

For six weeks this summer, the Citizen School will be offered at Coan Middle School in Atlanta. Apprenticeships will be taught by experts and could include subjects such as journalism, carpentry, dance, zoology, film and bicycle repair if people who are knowledgeable sign up to lead the classes. Informations 872-2252. was proud of her." in electrical engineering. She wants to teach at the university level and work with school systems to increase the emphasis on math and science.

Guide shows boys 'respectable' roles Brandenburg plans to pursue a law degree; her area of interest is civil liberties. I Georgia that will teach the curriculum, and local By Sherrell Evans STAFF WRITER school officials weren't familiar with the program. Reagan Walker BOOKS AND MORE: The U.S. Department of Education has opened a new National Library of Education in Washington, D.C. The library is The Oakland Men's Project, a men's organization in California that tackles violence househusband in Maine will visit the Mary E.

Taylor School in his state to tell boys about against women, developed the boys curriculum for the Ms. Foundation. It includes discussion of what th6 federal government's "one-stop center" for I alternatives to traditional careers. And boys electronic, phone and mail requests for men do outside of work that is worthy of respect; if information about education. Information: (800) there is anything about the men in their lives that 424-1616.

they would change; realizing how they can be physically intimidating even if they don't touch; STUDENT FESTIVAL: Through Wednesday and examining whether the division of household at Underground Atlanta, students from Atlanta public schools will hold musical and dance performances, show off their art work and chores among their parents is fair. "It's not about taking rights away from boys, but getting equal rights for girls," said Allan demonstrate their talents in aerobics, jump rope there will examine how men and women are portrayed in televised music videos. In West Virginia, the governor's wife will assure a school of boys that they don't have to be macho to be real men. It's all part of "Working It Out: Especially for Boys," the Ms. Foundation for Women's solution to finding something to do with boys while girls are at work Thursday on Take Our Daughters to Work Day.

Few schools around the country are known to be as actively involved as the Mary E. Taylor School, although the Ms. Foundation has either sold or given away 144,000 copies of the boys' curriculum. Creighton, executive director of the Oakland Men's and ball routines. The event continues today and Project.

Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. We want to answer your questions and address your concerns about public and private schools, so call our School Watch line at 222-1867 and leave a message. Please be sure and leave your phone number. If you need to talk to us right away, call Julie Miller at 526-5342 or fax us at 526-5746.

Or you can write School Watch, P.O. Box 4689, Atlanta, Ga. 30302. We also accept e-mail at SMWP04Dprodigy.com. 4 Marie Wilson, president of the Ms.

Foundation, said her organization began addressing the boys issue three years ago. Read recent School Watch stories and get more education "If we want to change the lives of girls," Wilson said, "we have to make sure we are speaking to the boys as well, for tft girls' sake, for society's sake." i J. Information on our computer. Information, Page A2. Members.

Schools. The organization could not name any schools in.