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EDUCATION I

Agency Class Gives
Teens College Credit

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

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54

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1990

1

ashey Bernstein
stands in the front of
the United Hebrew
Schools classroom leading a
discussion on Norman Lear's
short story "The Man Who
Studied Yoga."
Answering Bernstein's
questions, the students
begin analyzing the story's
structure and characters.
Nodding his head in ap-
proval, Bernstein listens as
students eagerly discuss how
the story's characters are
more like actors playing a
role than human beings.
As the conversation con-
tinues, Bernstein sounds
like he's lecturing to college
students. He isn't. The nine
teens in the room have just
come from their own high
school classes.
Bernstein, who is the
Theodore Bargman scholar-
in-residence at the Jewish
Community High School, is
an English professor at Uni-
versity of Michigan. But
every Tuesday for the past
month and continuing until
mid- June, Bernstein
teaches a sophomore level
English class on American
Jewish literature to 10 high
school students.
It is the only college course
offered by the Agency for
Jewish Education and the
University of Michigan's
Jean and Samuel Frankel
Center of Judaic Studies
where high school students
can earn three credits at the
university.
Rabbi Bruce Aft, principal
of the Community Jewish
High School, said the class is
part of the agency's new
commitment to provide teen-
agers serious about edu-
cation with advance course
work.
Bernstein treats these
high school students much
the same as his college
students in Ann Arbor. In
fact, one student dropped the
course because it was too
tough to handle with all of
her other commitments.
"I can't really compare the
two classes," Bernstein said.
"I know they are young, that
they are not in college. Yet,
their questions and answers
are on a college level.
"They don't really ask for
special treatment," Berns-
tein said. "If they don't
understand something, they
say so. They usually don't
say anything too off the
wall."

He also recognizes these
are high school students.
Bernstein takes time to go
over an assignment they will
eventually have to tackle —
the college English paper.
He passes around copies of a
paper written by a univer-
sity senior and goes over it
step by step.
David Schlussel, a senior
at Southfield-Lathrup High
School, said he's nervous
about going to Michigan
next year. He worries about
whether he can write a
paper that is up to college
standards.
But Bernstein's class
offers him a preview of col-
lege work, Schlussel said.
Because he isn't one of 300
students in a college lecture
room, he gets personal at-
tention to ease the adjust-

For some students,
Bernstein's class is
their only link to
Jewish education.

ment between high school
and the university setting.
Ari Schochet, a senior at
Southfield-Lathrup, said if
he just wanted college credit,
he could take an Advance
Placement test. Taking this
class means he can experi-
ence college; something a
test can't give him, said
Schochet, who will study in
an Israeli yeshiva in the fall.
Carin Fraiberg, a West
Bloomfield High School
senior said, "I do more work
for my high school classes,
but I learn more in this
class. He (Bernstein) makes
us think on our own."
For some students, Berns-
tein's class is their only link
to Jewish education. Many
are no longer in a Hebrew
high school program.
But most of all, the high
school students seem to have
fun with Bernstein. They
often ask him to tell stories
about the famous people he
meets such as Norman Lear
and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"There is an invisible line
between professor and stu-
dent," Bernstein said. "I
think they feel comfortable
questioning me, but they
know when work is to be
done."
Rabbi Aft puts it another
way.
"He's in touch with teens
and at the same time he's
involved in the university.
He makes a good bridge."

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