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Show rested for attempted assault let out a howl of rage after he laboriously spelled out, See ... the . . nice . . . policeman." It fell to Mrs. Paula Drucker to have the closest association with the convicts. She sat alone with 22 of them, one at a time, in a small room and interviewed for 30 hours. She recalls: Pathetic failures' I ever thought but I wasn't nervous. Those poor fellows weren't people to be afraid of. They were simply pathetic failures with very low opinions of themselves. From these interviews we teamed that in our classroom we had to stress building up their egos, praise their small ac- It was the last thing I'd he doing complishments." saw this in action recently. Cammarosano and Jim Small, public PARADE Lou school teachers by day, moved among a group of eight prisoner-studen- ts who were in deep concentration with selfteaching devices projectors, ear phones, comparison cards. Cammaro-san- o gave a slap on the back and won a grateful smile from one who'd just successfully added 38 and 13. Small shook the hand of another who correctly wrote "dog," "cat" and "bug" after hearing the words through earphones. "You have to treat them man to man," says Cammarosano. "No condescension. And they're so used to being pushed around, you have to give them a chance to make decisions. You ask a man, 'What'll we work on tonight?' You'd be amazed at how important it is for him to decide rather than be told." And Small adds: "Never ask a man what he's in for: That has no place in the schoolroom. You praise them whenever you honestly can. You constantly test them so you can show them their progress. One group of 22 tested on release showed educational growth ranging from 6 to 30 months. We never have disciplinary problems. But sometimes we see a man's morale is low. Maybe he didn't get any mail all week, or his wife is acting up back home." If I'm ever paid Warden William J. O'Brien is en- thusiastic about the program: "Many offenders are men who have drifted in life and have ntvcr succeeded in bettering themselves. Our literacy project offers them another chance and I'm convinced that short-terdetention units all over the country ought tc offer'1 the same opportunity. It's not easy to follow these men after release but we know of some of our students who are living decent and producth-- lives." But the greatest praise of all for the project started by the Westchester conwomn came from a vict. He became eligible to apply for parole several months before the end of his sentence. But he refused to seek his freedom because he wanted to complete his schoolwork. You can't give any higher praise than that m e The teachers have many a poignant memory. There was die man who at last was able to write a letter to his mother and went about displaying it to all. The man who'd been driving cars all his life and finally found out that MPH on a traffic sign meant "miles per hour." The one who said, "Now I can endorse if I ever get one." a paycheck 7 i , . o I o rzocxn rr 3 G I I Q 0 Q 25 |