THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996            TAG: 9610190007
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

``OPPRESSED'' STUDENTS SPEAK OUT

Editor's note: Students in Ann Bixler's Great Bridge High School class recently learned about oppression first hand. Their class was the subject of a Sept. 17 MetroNews story. Recently, some responded to a Sept. 27 letter, ``Lesson in oppression is cruel,'' by Adam Kidwell. Here are excerpts from three letters:

In the week the project took place, the students learned about persecution in a way that can't be taught from a book. It taught us that treating someone differently because of their skin color, gender or even clothes they wear is wrong.

Sometimes people need a reality check to see just how badly they treat someone else. I think every class and every school should do this project.

THERESA CROSS

I really appreciate Adam Kidwell's concern for us during our mock persecution. I would also like to put his mind at ease, because neither our reputations nor our self-esteem were deeply crushed by this project. Actually, we kind of had fun! And the teasing ceased the moment the bands were off.

Mr. Kidwell cannot compare his experiences to ours, because we were able to take our arm bands off after a few days. We do not have to live with them for the rest of our lives.

ANDREA HARRELL

I cannot experience the persecution faced by many disabled people in the world just like I cannot experience the pain faced by the Jews and other religious groups locked away in concentration camps. I'll never see what they saw - their family and friends dragged off into gas chambers and experiment rooms.

I'll tell you what we can feel. We can feel and see persecution. I see simple persecution every day because a person doesn't dress like a New York model or look like a bean pole.

It's because of ignorance that this continues. A person cannot, should not, pass judgment on me or any one of my friends because we're different than they are.

JESSICA EBELING

Chesapeake, Oct. 1, 1996 by CNB