European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 25, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                F find Kii Berliner Sang and danced on lop of the Wall to celebrate the opening of East West German Borders but students in the United states remained confused indifferent and bewildered by the emotional reaction. Teens unmoved by upheavals in Eastern Europe by David Maraniss and Bill Peterson Washington Postone week after the All of the both Wall. Elaine Jester a world history teacher at Kirkwood High school in suburban St Louis showed an Abc news special about the cataclysmic events taking place in East Germany to each of her classes it was such a compelling emotional piece of film that Jester found tears coming to her eyes each time she played the tape her students were utterly unmoved at Mccallum High school in Austin. Texas. Jane Michael chairwoman of the school s social studies department taped the today show coverage from Berlin and replayed it to her classes she told her students that she had been their age when the Berlin Wall went up and that she would never forget How that Symbol of the cold War haunted her youth now. She said the sight of it tumbling Down released in her an overwhelming surge of Joy. Once again the response was Flat. Some students got a kick out of the sight of the Wall being dismantled and sold Brick by Brick but they were confused about what this meant to the world and somewhat bewildered by the emotional reaction of the school s faculty the teen agers had trouble with context. They could not relate what was happening to their own lives they could not understand Why people would Ever allow themselves to live under fear and domination there were no tanks As there we in China last Juno what s the big deal7 these last Lew weeks appear to have been frustrating ones for Many history government and geography instructors in High schools throughout the United states. Visits to schools in Missouri Texas new York Maryland and California revealed that often though not always the exhilaration teachers Felt Over events in Eastern Europe was dampened in classrooms where they encountered confused or indifferent students. You gel angry. It s hard not to say listen kids Wake up you Guys Are missing something " said Scott Johnson a history Leach or and academic Dean at Kirkwood High a fairly typical Middle income midwestern suburban school of 1.400 students i Dun t want to sound like a sunday school teacher but i get this desire to stand up on my desk and  perhaps Johnson should go out in the streets to shout As Well surveys of  of the television specials from Eastern Europe which across the Board has Boon very Low show it would be unfair to place Only a generational slant on this the parents of today s students also such less than riveted by the movements in East Berlin. Prague. Warsaw and Budapest but in the High schools of the United Stales where there Are a Multi Octy of explanations for the Lack of excitement or knowledge on the subject some of the reasons Are especially troubling it not surprising to the teachers there is to beam with Little understanding of communism they Don t understand what communism is in the   said Oon Aid Van Oman. U s history teacher Al Pasadena Blair High school in Southern California. So when you say it s the death of communism they Don t in  what you re talking Aboul " Jester the Kirkwood teacher said her students rea1 floundered when they were asked to discuss the television special she showed them because they did t have the context in terms of the cold War sure most of them have heard the term cold War thrown around and most of them know the countries behind the Iron Curtas i Are communist but they Don t really know what communism  even at l c Anderson High school on the affluent Northwest Side of Austin where students in Jeff Hancock s honors government classes seemed the most attuned to recent news this Lack of context was evident i m sorry but what is this talk of satellites asked senior Christina Kolich during a class discussion about East bloc countries often referred to As satellites of the soviet Union that were striving for sovereignty and an end to domination from Moscow. I m confused. Are we talking about satellite dishes or what ii students Are supposed to get some of their knowledge about communism and world events from sources outside of the classroom in Many cases that is not happening. A poll of one history class at Kirkwood High found that Hall of the 18 students watched television news regularly Only three of the 18 said they read the newspaper regularly and none lived in Homes that subscribed to news magazines of any sort. Chinika Warren a Sophomore Al Pasadena Blair described a lifestyle common to Many of the students one that left Little time fur absorbing news. She said she must work Throe hours each afternoon at a local Day care Center to help her family and has no time to watch to news much less read a newspaper. Eastern Europe intrudes on her consciousness Only if a news bulletin Breaks into the one hour of late evening television she likes in the heat of the night that she allows herself in a Day tilled with school work and Homework. Along with the Lack of Lime and awareness there is also in the minds of Many students a Lack of relevance if they did have political or sociological concerns they were of a More intimate and immediate nature. I did t pay no  said n Ana Vasquez a Junior at Julia Richman High school in new York when asked about what was happening in Eastern Europe. I m thinking about Black people and Spanish people lighting each other Al this school " Dolores Ayala. A history teacher at Kirkwood said she feared too Lew students let even local concerns intrude into their thoughts. Many of today s teen agers she said carried a Why should i care attitude. What we re looking at is an inability to empathize not Only with other cultures but other groups within our own country Ayala said i think we have a generation of self contained sell entered  self entered or not students in Barry Miller s contemporary world history class Al Severna Park High school near Annapolis almost unanimously opposed the idea of sending More Aid to burgeoning democracies such As the one in Poland said Kelly Fennessy i think we should worry about what s going on in the rest of the 1page 14 the stars and stripes monday dece