"In lots of cases, teachers forbid their students to discuss politics, but the solution to the problem is not to sweep it under the table," says Mr. Perrera. "Children, just like adults, need to learn how to communicate in ways that are healthy."
In the absence of a nationwide effort, child-welfare organizations have joined with educators and child psychiatrists in an ad hoc effort to depoliticize the classroom. CECODAP sponsors workshops for students as well as teachers. >[? A handful of nonprofit groups are at work training teachers around the country in the basic tenets of dispute-settlement: focus on the problems, not the participants; learn how to listen; look for "win-win" solutions that are free of judgment. Role-playing is suggested, and instructors are encouraged to incorporate peacemaking into their curricula.
At Alberdi elementary, where children play soccer in a dusty field next to a mountain of rusted chairs and desks, values are taught every day.
In a drab second-floor classroom, sixth-grade teacher Danny Camaripano stands in front of his 60 students, pensively rolling a piece of chalk between his fingers.
"What would you do if someone wanted to fight you?" he asks the classroom.
Norma Acosa, a beaming extrovert, raises her hand.
"I wouldn't do it," she says.
"What would you do?" Mr. Camaripano asks her.
"I'd talk with him, and find out what the problem is," Norma says.
Over the course of the 50-minute class, Camaripano lectures about values and peppers his students with hypotheticals, coaxing tentative answers from quiet types and back-row pranksters alike.***
Analysts say the vote is the last hope to push the South American nation out of the political crisis, which is expected to shrink the economy by at least 10 percent this year. But as the stalling continues, Chávez gains ground. He has tightened his grip on the National Assembly, the courts, the state oil company and the military as the opposition runs out of steam.
By law, the recall drive can begin Aug. 19, half way through Chávez's six-year term. But Chávez loyalists argue that the millions of signatures already collected in February are invalid: They were collected too soon.
Chávez this week also insisted that only people who voted in the 2000 election can cast ballots for the referendum -- a key issue because it was widespread absenteeism three years ago that allowed Chávez to sweep into power.
The National Elections Council will eventually decide both matters, but the National Assembly, responsible for naming members of the council, has deadlocked on theboard's fifth member. Two of the members are pro-Chávez and the other two came from the opposition ranks. The supreme court has given the assembly a 10-day deadline, saying it will pick the fifth member if the legislature can't. The government insists that opposition leaders are deliberately creating controversy.***