European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes monday february 1989 education Dodds Roundup mat counts Competition to get under Way saturday Wiesbaden West Germany More than 150 seventh and eighth graders in West Germany Are expected to compete saturday in the first round of the annual mat counts Competition. The Competition focuses on word problem Sand computations. The top four finishers from throughout the department of defense dependents schools will represent the school system in the National mat counts Competition May 12 i Washington . The society of american military engineers has agreed to pay the expenses for team Mem Bers to compete in Washington where they la face teams from the 50 states puerto Rico Guam the District of Columbia and state department and overseas non Dodds schools. The military overseas school system finished 35th in last year s mat counts Competition its est showing. Forty three Middle and Junior High schools in Germany will Send four member teams to sat urday s Competition held at Bonn High school Ramstein Junior High and Crail sheim Junior High. The top 20 teams from those competitions will compete in a second round March 11 at Heidelberg Middle school. Foundation will help pay student seminar expenses Wiesbaden West Germany High school students in Germany Are eligible to attend future Junior science and humanities seminars at no Cost thanks to donations to the Kent Rossier me Morial student science research foundation. Rossier who spent 31 years in the military overseas school system died july 24 in a car crash. He helped found the Germany area Junior science and humanities symposium in 1975. The foundation will pay half the expenses incurred by students at the seminars if a sponsor ing organization such As a Booster club wives club or parents group pays the other half. Sponsoring organizations should Contact the local High school science coordinator to qualify for the Matching funds organizers said. Typical student expenses for the seminars which include room and Board Range from $75 to $100. The seminars offered in october and december each year attract about 100 student from Germany High schools. The seminars provide students with research skills necessary to enter projects in the Junior science and humanities symposium sponsored by the Academy of applied sciences and the army research Center. This year s symposium is scheduled March 30 to april 1 at the Heidel Berg University medical research Center. Earl Morse at ets 339-3670 has More information. Grants for College offered by air Force Aid society Randolph fab Texas the air Force Aid society is offering $500 and $ 1,000 Grants to College bound students of Active duty and re tired personnel for the 1989-90 school year. Those interested in the Grants can apply by filling out applications available at local air Force Aid offices. The forms must be mailed to air Force Aid society 1745 Jefferson Davis Highway suite 202, Arlington va., 22202. More information May be obtained at air Force Aid offices. Irs commissioner who promoted service leaving Washington a Lawrence b. Gibbs com missioner of the internal Revenue service for 2 /2years, will leave the Post March 4. During his tenure As commissioner Gibbs said irs employees should treat taxpayers As customers and he launched a major drive to improve service to taxpayers. He originally opposed congressional passage of a taxpayer Bill of rights designed to protect taxpayers subject to irs enforcement efforts but endorsed the measure after it was amended. Cd Efren fee a n of prejudice in exercise afer Angen school by Effie Bathen Erlanger West Germany discrimination hurts. Just ask Chris Kane. Or Staci Richold. Or Shawn Findley. Those fourth graders can Tell you what it s like sometimes crying sometimes trembling sometimes without saying a word. They can Tell you because they be returned from Atwo Day journey to the Black Hole of discrimination organized by their classroom teacher. The object was to teach the children what it would feel like to be discriminated against Jeff Levy said. Prejudice is Learned. Unfortunately it is taught by those we love most parents and  and one teacher at Erlanger elementary. Levy founded his concept around Martin Luther King or. Day and february s Black history month. Seeking to add perspective to the Black Leader s ideals that children could understand Levy divided the class into blondes and Brunies. Those outside Levy s classroom were More prepared for his concept than those within. Parents school administrators and the school Counselor were alerted tothe idea Long before Chris Staci Shawn and their classmates spent one Day on each Side of the discrimination Fence. The blondes were victimized the first Day Only to watch As the Brunies were subjected to silence Star Sand verbal slights on the second. A few ground rules were established before the exercise no name calling no talking Between members of opposite groups and no challenging the teacher s directions. I told them things would be unfair Levy said. And i knew it would be emotional. I expected a few  he saw tears on the second Day. Chris complained that his group had been told to stay on the Blacktop during break time. You did t Tell that to the blondes yesterday and that s just not fair he cried out sitting among his fellow Brunies Many wiping away tears. Chris and his group saw things differently the firs Day drawing Praise and even applause after giving the easiest of answers. The blondes meanwhile were subjected to a variety of slights ranging from Levy s comments like would you blondes try to be a Little quicker to sign hanging near a water Fountain that read no blondes can drink Here stay out in addition Levy did t Call on them As often and turned his desk away from them. A Large part of discrimination is ignoring. A person becomes nothing when ignored he said. The next Day it was the Brunies turn to be the victims. The dark haired children went to the Back of the bus while Riding to the gym and sat on the floor in the Library while blondes sat in chairs. The Brunies also had to put their Coats on the floor because Only blondes had the right to coat Hooks that Day. Levy said it was the hardest role he had Ever played and he was mentally drained when it ended. The children Felt the tension too. The wiggles and giggles typical in a classroom of 9 and 10-year-Oldswere missing. Levy kept close watch on the Young victims of his is Effie Bathen a child hesitates in the door of the school restroom after Reading the sign barring Brunies. Feigned prejudice. The shove of a chair or the slam of a Book told him when it was time to take someone aside give a hug and remind a child that it was Only a game. The Brunies like the blondes the Day before broke Down in tears when Levy called them out to the Hall to Tell them it was All Over. Then they laughed and hugged each other and Levy. An hour Long discussion session followed the end of the exercise. I Felt a mix of frustration anger and sadness said Shawn a former Brunie. For him and most of the other children in that group the Blacktop thing waste last Straw. For Ben Ritter from the Blond group being ignored was the worst part. Chandra Doney also Blond said she hated it when Levy kept saying Good things about Chris and bad things about  most agreed with Staci Richold who said that she thought Levy was being mean and that she Felt sorry for the other group when they were treated poorly. Levy summed up the lesson for the children born about a decade after King s assassination the word that we keep hearing Here is unfair nobody Ever said that discrimination was fair. But what you be experienced Here is Only a taste of what it was like at the Tim of or. Martin Luther  Bathen is a free Lance writer in Furth West Germany humanities requirements still lax at Many colleges Survey finds Washington a intense interest in re vamping and expanding College humanities require ments has translated into Little Success in the past five years according to a study issued last month. The study sponsored by the National endowment for the humanities found that students Are Only slightly More Likely to have to take such courses in order to graduate and it is possible to bypass Many significant Fields of knowledge in route to a degree. Currently it is possible to earn a Bachelor s degree from 38 percent of colleges and universities without taking any course in history 45 percent without taking a course in English or american literature 62 percent without taking a philosophy course and 77 percent without studying a foreign language. General requirements in humanities Rose an average of 1.5 hours from 1983-84 to 1988-89 a 6.2 percent average increases in requirements for English and american literature foreign languages and literature history and philosophy All totalled 0.2 credit hours Orless Over the five year period. One would have hoped that All the concern about curriculum Reform would have resulted in More said the organization s chairwoman Lynne Cheney. There s been such emphasis and such Effort in the Pas live years to try to restore form and substance to under graduate requirements she said in an interview last week. I Don t mean to suggest at All that colleges Are not trying. What this Survey shows is How hard it  Cheney attributed some of the problems to outside pressures and heavy course requirements for majors