NORTHERN IRELAND: SEMO GRAD TEACHES IN BELFAST

Divisions between Protestants and Catholics run deep in Northern Ireland's Belfast.

Even with a new peace accord, it could take years to heal all the strife, said Southeast Missouri State University graduate Russell Grammer.

The 27-year-old Grammer finished up his senior year by student teaching for six weeks at an elementary school in Belfast.

He witnessed the campaigning that led up to the historic vote.

Grammer was in Belfast from March 14 to May 14. He left Belfast about a week before the election.

Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland approved the peace agreement on May 22.

An election on June 25 will determine party strengths in a new 108-seat Belfast Assembly, from which a 12-member administration will be established.

Grammer, who majored in elementary and special education, was the first Southeast student to student teach in Belfast.

Grammer came up with the idea of doing his student teaching in Belfast after making four previous visits to the city. His former girlfriend lives there.

Southeast agreed to the idea after working out an arrangement with a Belfast college.

Grammer spent two months in Belfast last summer. While there he worked with youth for a church group.

Grammer said the Protestant teen-agers sang hate songs about Catholics. "They just spoke with venom," he said.

Their hatred, however, was more habit than anything else. "I said, `Why do you hate them?' They were stammering. None of them had an answer," said Grammer.

During his summer in Belfast, Grammer also delivered telephone books to homes. Many of the occupants sported tattoos bearing the "Red Hand of Ulster," signifying their support of the pro-British, Protestant cause.

Grammer spent this spring teaching children in the fifth year of schooling at Strandtown Junior Primary School, a largely Protestant public school.

Grammer said the class was equivalent to a third- or fourth-grade class. The students were 9 and 10 years old.

Belfast has about 30 integrated schools. The rest are Protestant or Catholic schools.

Grammer said schooling involves a more formal classroom setting than in the United States.

"They include religion in the curriculum also. One day a week, the kids get together and sing hymns," he said.

Grammer said Belfast, with a population of about 300,000, is "a nice city."

Grammer said the violence over the years has been the work of a minority of Catholics and Protestants. Many Catholics and Protestants detest the violence, he said.

Over the past 30 years, 3,400 people have died from the sectarian strife.

People identify themselves as Protestant or Catholic even if they aren't religious, Grammer said.

"One kid said he didn't believe in God. Another said there might be a God," recalled Grammer. Both children, however, identified themselves as Protestants.

Grammer compared the strife in Northern Ireland to America's past racial problems.

Grammer said he saw little celebrating on the part of Belfast residents when the peace accord was reached.

"It was a delicate thing. People were afraid to have too much hope," he said.

Shortly before he left Belfast, Grammer attended a non-denominational church service. The minister urged the congregation to vote for the peace agreement.

Grammer said Belfast was full of murals, depicting the differing views of Protestants and Catholics.

The curbs in some Protestant neighborhoods were painted red, white and blue. In Catholic neighborhoods, the curbs were painted orange and green, the colors of Ireland.

Dr. Phil Parette, professor of elementary, early and special education at Southeast, supervised Grammer. He also supervised a number of students who did their student teaching in Wales.

During the six weeks, Parette spent five days in Belfast.

The headmaster of the Strandtown school took Parette and Grammer on a tour of Belfast. They traveled through both Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods that aren't visited by the typical tourist.

"You could sense a bit of tension in those areas," he said. "It was clear just driving around that people were watching us. They knew that we did not belong.

"That is a kind of eerie feeling," Parette said.

Parette was intrigued by the murals. He said they provided a window on Catholic and Protestant perspectives of what Belfast residents call "the troubles."

Said Parette, "It was more than propaganda. It was their experience."

The murals carried a common theme. "Everyone was looking to peace, yet the perspectives of how to gain peace were very different," he said.

Parette said Southeast is exploring the possibility of sending more students to Belfast for student teaching assignments.

Grammer currently is looking to teach in Southeast Missouri. But he said he might return to Belfast some day.

He has fond memories of Belfast. "It's got a bad image, but it's not really that bad," he said.