Editing 79-10-B8 (section)

=== Transcript ===
This story is surely a sign of the times. At the Top of the World elementary
school in Laguna Beach, California, fourth, fifth and sixth grade kids meet twice a
week for special energy classes in what is known as the "energy room." This unique
classroom is equipped with appliances of all sorts; two stunted telephone polls,
complete with insulators; a gas line which stretches across the classroom; and
computer terminals. It's all part of a one-of-a-kind energy program designed to
teach the youngsters that there is more to energy than a switch, a socket and a
gallon of gas.

The $400,000 project is being funded entirely by individual and corporate
donors who figure that the best place to begin to teach Americans common sense is
with their kids. And they are probably right. While many of their parents are
conjuring up sinister oil company conspiracies, the children in this school are
learning the nuts-and-bolts of how the energy is produced, how it gets to our
homes, why it costs so much, and how the individual family can reduce its energy
cost.

The most innovative feature of this special program is provided by John
Phillips and his Engineering Supervision company. Phillips is the same man
who devised a computerized energy savings program for large commercial customers
that I described in an earlier broadcast. Now Mr. Phillips has installed a computer
terminal in this energy classroom. Then, energy-monitoring devices were hooked
up to the homes of a number of children who are participating in the program. This
enables a student to see, projected on the computer screen, just how much energy
his or her family uses -- and when they use it. The computer measures the energy
consumption of each home appliance and shows how the family can save energy arid
money by rearranging its use of electricity to avoid peak-load hours.

One of the two teachers hired to teach the special energy classes says that
the youngsters involved are excited and motivated about energy. The best way to
measure this interest, she says, is to compare the rate of completed homework
to that in other classes. About 90 percent of the assignments are completed in
the energy classes, she explains, compared to less than 50 percent in other subjects.

Another learning technique of the program did not go over too well with many
parents. Last fall, the students were assigned to spend a weekend without energy.
That meant no car travel, electric lights, appliances, telephones and--heaven
forbid -- no television from Friday at 6 p.m. to Sunday at 6 p.m. The purpose of
the assignment was to learn what it might be like to have to live without energy.

The energy education program at this elementary school is an imaginative way
to teach youngsters how our energy is produced, priced and allocated -- and how
energy and money can be saved with a minimum of inconvenience. Perhaps some
government officials should go to this Laguna Beach elementary school to observe
and learn. 

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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