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Show Citizenship program needed to preserve schools the citizenship codes, particularly those who don't if they graduate or not. tcare ) But the program has many more advantages It spells out, in plain terms, what kind of behavior not be tolerated in the schools and gives teacher administrators guidelines to measure behavior anri? tools to enforce the guidelines. a Pamphlets explaining the program have been Da out, and students know what is expected of them exactly how they will be punished if they fail to meet? requirements of the plan. lUl j Most importantly, it works. In Lehi High School, where the plan was tested year, tardies and absences were cut in half by tvi them directly to graduation requirements. ? Rather than restricting personal freedom th i Citizenship plan is designed to preserve the rights l students who want to learn by forcing others to I I activities that detract from the business of education As a whole, the plan is needed to maintain order in th I high schools. "ine i The Citizenship Plan now being adopted by several high schools in the Alpine School District is a necessary step to change the trend towards permissive personal behavior in our public schools. The plan, first adopted by Lehi High School on a trial basis and now being accepted by American Fork and Pleasant Grove High Schools, among others, makes appropriate behavior in school part of the graduation requirements of each student. Students earn citizenship credits in each class, as well as academic credits. And even if a student may earn enough academic credits to graduate, if he doesn't pass on the citizenship grades, no diploma will be awarded. Profanity, vulgarity, vandalism, absenteeism, tardiness tar-diness and blatant disrespect for teachers are all activities ac-tivities which have become increasingly acceptable by students at high schools throughout the nation, and our local schools have been affected by these changing attitudes towards unacceptable behavior to one degree ! or another. Now such behavior will result in a drop in a student's Citizenship grade -- and that will be reflected in the subsequent grade report. Enough incidents of misbehavior, and the Citizenship credit for a class will be lost. Credits can be made up, either in after-school makeup sessions or by attending a Community School Citizenship Citizen-ship class. True, the program has some drawbacks. For one thing, the Community School program carries a $15 fee for every one-fourth credit a students earns --making --making it possible for a student with more money to "buy" the credits, while that may not be possible for poorer students. The after-school sessions are designed to give all students a fair chance to earn back the Citizenship credit, but the program still offers a better chance to some students than others to make up the credits. And the requirements for attendance and tardiness may seem a little strict to some, with two tardies per term sufficient to start dropping a student's citizenship grade. Also, the program probably won't have much affect on the students who are the most common violators of |