Laughs aid serious census lesson at Sachem High North

Sachem High School North's fourth-period advanced-placement government class was turned into a screening room for a few minutes one recent morning.

Projected onto a screen hanging in front of the blackboard was a classic "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring Christopher Walken as a man interviewed by a U.S. Census enumerator.

Asked how many people live at the address, Walken says, "Maybe 80," adding, "I'm so bad at guesstimating."

And asked if he works, Walken says yes - "but just part of the time." Enumerator: "You're a part-time worker." Walken: "Just 9 to 5."

It was a humorous start to a serious discussion about the impact, and importance, of the once-a-decade census for the seniors in the school in Lake Ronkonkoma.

'Who will draw the lines?'

They dissected how the count of the nation's population, required by the U.S. Constitution, is used for reapportionment, determining the number of seats a state gets in the House of Representatives.

The count also affects redistricting for state legislative offices - issues that were front and center this day in the class taught by Tom Cestaro, chairman of Sachem North's social studies department.

"Who will draw the lines?" when a state begins the redistricting process, Cestaro asked his class.

"The majority party," a student said. Added another: "They will draw the lines in their favor," or as Cestaro noted, "They will gerrymander those districts."

The students discussed population shifts, locally and across the nation, as Cestaro culled through data on the U.S. Census Bureau's Web site, projecting maps and statistical tables onto the screen.

The lesson illustrated how census statistics can be put to use in the classroom, one of the objectives of the bureau's Census in Schools program. It is, census officials say, at once educational as well as promotional, as the bureau gears up for the 2010 Census. Questionnaires will be sent out in mid-March.

Promoting the program

Census officials including bureau director Robert M. Groves have been visiting schools across the country promoting the program, which includes lesson plans the bureau developed with Scholastic Inc.

The bureau is seeking to reach out to about 118,000 schools and 56 million students across the United States and in its territories.

Renee Jefferson-Copeland, the Census Bureau's branch chief for Census in Schools, said the program uses census materials to teach about both "civic responsibility" and the political process. And, she said, "of course, it is to inform students about the 2010 Census. . . . It's a once-in-a-decade opportunity for their families and their households to participate in such a large national undertaking."

And even as that would be a "good thing," Cestaro said, it wasn't a factor in his decision to use census data in class. "One of the core requirements of New York State is civic responsibility," Cestaro said. "In my classroom, if I can make kids more aware of the importance of them being involved in our democracy, then I think we can achieve something."

The largest minority group

Back in the classroom, Cestaro pulled up recent census estimates showing the nation's population "has passed the 300 million threshold," with charts breaking out the population by race. "What stands out?" he asked.

"The white population is the majority," one student said.

"What's the largest minority group?"

"African-Americans."

"Take a closer look."

"Hispanics."

That Hispanics have become the largest minority group, Cestaro said, is "significant, because that's the first time that has happened. What are the political consequences?"

That prompted discussion about how demographic shifts affect politics, and Cestaro told the class that elected officials "need to be concerned not only with the majority group, but minority groups as well."

As class ended, Stephanie Jusino, 17, said the impact of the census on the distribution of $400 billion in federal aid to communities, based in part on population, was "mind-

blowing."

About now the Census Bureau may be feeling like Christopher Walken's character in the "Saturday Night Live" skit when he says: "I feel enormous pressure to get this right."

Facts about the census

HISTORY: A national census has been taken every 10 years since 1790, as required by the Constitution. In 1790 the U.S. population was a little less than 4 million, not counting slaves or untaxed Indians. By 2000 the population had exceeded 280 million. On Thursday, it was estimated at 308.6 milllion.

PURPOSE: Besides a population count, the census is primarily used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives and to redistrict state legislatures.

IMPACT: The data directly affect how more than $300 billion a year in federal and state funds is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvement, public health, education and much more. That's more than $3 trillion over 10 years.

SOURCES: U.S. CENSUS; PENN STATE UNIVERSITY