
DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310665

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   77 lines

MATH STUDENTS ADD VOTING TO EDUCATION

The conversation in Miriam Mason's classroom at Corporate Landing Middle School had shifted Wednesday to politics, and the debate bounced quickly from who should win, to who was most likely to vote, to why people favored different candidates.

``Which do you think will be the biggest group of voters (by age)?'' Mason asked.

``Twenty-eight to 35-year-olds,'' one student offered.

``Why 28 to 35?''

``Because middle-age people vote more,'' came the painfully innocent response.

Mason winced.

``Why does the middle age group vote more?'' she asked.

``Because they care.''

Although the dialogue may sound like Mason teaches social studies, she was talking to eighth-graders in her Algebra I class.

How could a math class figure into the election equation? Because students at Corporate Landing, and other schools in Virginia Beach and in Norfolk, are taking part in a program called Kids Voting Virginia, a chapter of the national project Kids Voting USA. And teachers are finding ways to drive home the lessons of democracy and voter participation.

``We just consider Kids Voting to be a great leaping off point'' for classroom instruction,'' said Joanne Taylor, executive director of Kids Voting Virginia.

Nationally, the project got its start when some Arizona businessmen visiting Costa Rica learned that the country has a 90 percent voter turnout, a rate attributed to the tradition of young people accompanying their parents to the polls. The businessmen founded Kids Voting USA in 1987. It has spread to 42 states and the District of Columbia. Kids Voting Virginia was a pilot in the Norfolk schools and some Virginia Beach schools last year. Some major sponsors of the effort are The Virginian-Pilot, The Landmark Foundation, Central Fidelity Bank and Virginia Power.

The program, which expanded here this year to reach 120,000 students in all the schools of both cities, offers young people lessons in democracy and politics. Then, it offers them the opportunity to go to the polls with their parents on election day and cast their own votes which will be tallied and reported.

``They feel like they're participating in democracy. It's a new twist on the democratic process,'' Taylor said.

Schools are provided a non-partisan civics curriculum that emphasizes the importance of voting. Teachers in both cities have expanded beyond the basics, however. In Norfolk, some students at Ruffner Middle School, for instance, made a video on the election process. At Maury High School, young people researched the issues and made a voter's guide which was distributed to their classmates.

Schools have been encouraged not to limit information to the expected classes, like social studies. So at some, like Corporate Landing Middle, math and science classes have taken a democratic turn.

In Mason's classes, eighth-graders had surveyed registered voters on their election-day preferences and analyzed the results based on race, gender and age.

The work has struck a chord with students like Renee Davis.

``It encourages your parents to vote and it's getting us ready too,'' the 14-year-old said. ``We want to go with our parents to see the ballots and everything.''

``Some grown-ups, they don't like either candidate so they don't vote,'' added her classmate Dave King. ``Then they complain.''

``But they could have made a difference,'' Renee said.

PILOT ONLINE: Visit the Web site for Kids Voting Virginia at http:// (www.pilotonline.com/kidsvoting) ILLUSTRATION: Photo

STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot

Corporate Landing Middle School student Dave King, 14, explains a

tally he and his fellow math class team members calculated after

surveying some registered voters for Tuesday's election. The Kids

Voting Virginia program helps teachers drive home the lessons of

democracy and voter participation.