By MARCIA MOXAM COMRIE

Experts contend that prejudice, whether we know it or not, is an everday part of our lives but there is a new group on the block that wants seniors to help put an end to this age old social problem it before it starts.

"The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one. That is what we are trying to do with this program," explains Tami Reid, the director of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). The Manhattan-based non-profit organization recruits volunteers and places them in roles appropriate to their skills, interest and experience, throughout the five boroughs.

The group recently started an anti-prejudice program in elementary schools throughout Queens.

However, they "desperately need" volunteers to go into the schools and they need schools willing to take the program.

As soon as they have enough of those two sectors in place, Reid said the program will mushroom in Queens.

"Interaction between the seniors and the children help break down the stereotype of age," said Reid. "The volunteers also share their own experiences with prejudice. They must be open, honest and willing to share," she said.

Reid said that education is the only thing that will make a difference in how people perceive those who seem "different."

According to Reid, the Prejudice Reduction Program, which has been hosted by public elementary schools in Long Island City, Astoria and Flushing and in Brooklyn and Staten Island, is not new to the other boroughs but it only started in Queens last semester.

The program itself started in 1990 with a "seed grant" from The United Way and has received numerous accolades including "The Mayor’s Award" in 1991 from then Mayor David Dinkins as well as from Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a Presidential Citation from President Bill Clinton.

"We need schools to accept the program," she said. "We will do it in any community. We try to recruit a diverse volunteer force. We don’t recruit for a specific school; we recruit people interested in the value of our program. Our qualifier is that you must be open and honest and be able to give us at least one morning per week for 12 weeks," she explained.

Asked if there are any specific communities they are targeting, Reid explained the program is for any community.

"We will go into any community," she said. "We need five to six volunteers for each school. We use videos, drawings. We are hoping to build pride in the students’ own self and in their culture and experience. We don’t turn away any volunteer and we do a lot of pairing."

Funded by the New York City Department for the Aging, the classes, according to Reid, are approximately one hour long and are very interactive. The children role-play, draw, and write. They are also shown videotapes of situations and then asked to comment on the situations and tell how they would handle it if they were in the characters’ place.

For volunteer Jay Katz, a Manhattan resident, the experience has been worth the effort he puts into the program.

"The response has been very positive," said Katz. "The children really get involved in the various activities. The classes I go to are very diverse. It’s like the UN, the children come from all races and backgrounds."

Katz said that at the beginning of the program they give a "test" just to see where the children stand on old stereo types and they give another test at the end of the 12-week program to measure any attitude adjustment.

For instance, the test will assert, "disabled people cannot play basketball, old people can’t swim a mile and boys are braver than girls."

Asked if he expects any long-term impact from the program, Katz allowed that "it’s difficult to measure," but hopes that it will make a difference.

According to York College professor Deborah Majerovitz, prejudice is an attitude toward an individual or group based on preconceived perception characteristics. Asked if prejudice reduction classes can make a difference, Majerovitz agreed that education might have an impact.

"There’s research that says that education can change attitude," she said. "But there’s also research that says that exposure to the people [toward whom the prejudice is directed] is helpful. Exposure will may help them think ‘they don’t match the stereotype I had in my head.’ But if they’re going back into a completely homogenous environment..."

According to the professor, the message will also make a stronger impact if the children can relate to the messenger.

"If the children have respect for the people bringing the message, that makes it stronger," she said.

For volunteer Katz, the program has potential but time will be the determinant.

"We hope that we make an impact," he said. "We try to cover not just racial and religious prejudices, but age and the disabled as well. We try to puncture the attitude [of prejudice] at this early age. Kids are very impressionable, older kids and adults are set in their ways, but if we can change the kids. At the end of the program there is usually a difference in the answers from what they gave in the beginning."

According to Sydelle Diner, a retired social worker and a "prejudice reduction" volunteer who just wrapped up a session at PS 17 in Astoria, the program has the potential to make a difference but it has to be reinforced.

"We can’t repeat it often enough that we have to get along with our neighbors," said Diner. "One can never really tell what the impact [of the program] is but they store it away and hopefully, it comes to the fore at the right time."

Citing the most recent school shooting in California, Diner thinks that part of the problem is misunderstanding and the reason a prejudice reduction program is important.

"Children grow up faster now," she said. "They are exposed to violence on TV, at the movies and even the [electronic] games they play. This program teaches them how to get along."

The saying "the proof is in the pudding" probably sums up the feelings of the children who have participated in the Prejudice Reduction Program at their schools.

"I will change the way I treat other people and I will do it by respecting other people’s opinions, more," wrote a fourth-grader, Cassandre Annarumma, at the end of the 12-week program at her school.

"I will change because of these lessons because I don’t want to be prejudiced anymore," said fifth grader, Threse Taddeo. "I will help people who are being made fun of," she said.

"I learned we shouldn’t judge people by their race or color and [and] that we shouldn’t treat people by their disabilities. The volunteers were helpful by giving us examples of how people feel when they are being treated wrong," said 4th grader Chi Chi Eskew.

"I learned from the program that we are all equal in every way. The only difference is that we look different and I will treat other people nice, as I would like to be treated. It’s what’s on the inside that counts," said 5th grader Nicole McElrath.

To find out more about the prejudice reduction or any other program under the umbrella of RSVP, call Tami Reid at 212-614-5536.