Summer School Program Gives Lessons on Diversity

The elementary school students have made sack lunches for the homeless. They have been given fake money, and very little of it, to learn about poverty. And they have been taught how to write a letter to a public official to right a wrong.

The 20 students are part of a summer school program called SAMPLE, or Social Action within a Multicultural Program in Language Enrichment, started four years ago by Harvard graduate Yea-Lan Chiang shortly after the Los Angeles riots split the city apart. Her idea was if children could learn to get along and avoid violence, incidents like the riots would not occur.

The program this summer branched out to Gardena Community Adult School where 16 high school volunteer counselors work three times a week with third- to sixth-graders from Carson, Torrance, Inglewood and Gardena to teach them about diversity, alternatives to violence and positive forms of social action. The students also receive one-on-one tutoring in reading and writing during the free six-week program.

“The riots hit me very hard,” said Chiang, 23, who attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City, where there is a diverse student body. “I had this picture that we all got along in Los Angeles.”

Instead of reading traditional stories like Jack and Jill, students read about other cultures. Instead of writing stories, they write petitions and press releases.

On Wednesday, the students watched a skit that showed two girls trying to share a purple crayon while coloring. After a few words of disagreement, a fistfight ensued. Then the actors taught the students other ways to resolve a disagreement.

“None of the schools have curriculums that take time to deal with [cultural] differences,” said Chiang, who is funding the program with grants and fund-raising efforts. “They don’t know that they can write or call [a public official], so why not smash a window.”

Mellody Hayes, 18, a graduate of Banning High School in Wilmington and a sophomore at Harvard, is the SAMPLE director this year at the Gardena location. She has seen several children change their ideas and behavior during the four summers she has been with the program. “What other program will give you a child to mentor on a one-on-one basis for such a long time?” she asked.

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