Students Swear Off Profanity--or Pay : Education: Teacher fines pupils for each curse word. As a reward for curbing their foul language, she arranges a surprise concert by rap singer Heavy D.

Tired of hearing her students toss around four-letter words, Crenshaw High School teacher Deidre Harris came up with a plan she now swears by.

Harris, who teaches Spanish, proposed fining the students each time they used a profane word in the classroom. Somewhat to her surprise, the students expanded her idea to include other forms of disrespect and set penalties for each offense. The “F-word” was the most serious infraction at 25 cents a pop, while a plain old “shut up” fetches a nickel.

In the 1 1/2 years the “curse patrol” has been around, Harris’ students have raised about $400. But more important, Harris said, the plan has curbed foul language and foul behavior in general. In fact, she said, the students have taken to policing each other so well she rarely has to enforce the rules.

“It really works,” said junior Kenny Bailey, a student in Harris’ second-year Spanish class. “I used to curse with friends, but now I think about it. And when you get into the real world, and you’re looking for a job, it makes a difference when you’re aware of what you’re saying.”

To reward her students, Harris arranged a surprise performance last week by rapper Heavy D at the school. The New York-bred rapper, whose poster is tacked up next to the profanity price list in Harris’ room, eschews swearing, and his rap single “Don’t Curse” became the theme song of Harris’ efforts.

“Making the kids pay makes them realize the consequences of what they say,” Harris said. “Sending them to the dean’s office wasn’t doing any good. I only see them for an hour a day, but that’s enough to make the point.”

Senior Lisa Claiborne, also in second-year Spanish, said having to literally pay for mistakes has made a difference in her behavior. “It’s bad to slip and not think about what you say,” she said. “But at least when we slip, we know Miss Harris is using the money toward something good, something for us.”

Harris initially used the money collected to photocopy materials for her classes--Crenshaw lost its copier last year after a round of budget cuts--and then decided to save it for a new machine. But since Nestle Foods donated a $5,000 copier in January, Harris’ students have decided to use the “curse fund,” which stands at $75, to throw a party for themselves at the end of the semester.

But Harris felt that her students had done well enough with the experiment to be rewarded earlier. So she arranged a surprise assembly for her classes with Heavy D, who had expressed interest in coming to speak to the students when Harris contacted MCA Records last year requesting free cassettes and posters from the artist. After a year of trying to nail down a date, the singer visited the school last Monday.

In Crenshaw’s multipurpose room, about 100 students were treated to free Heavy D cassette singles and posters depicting the rapper and his group, the Boyz. After they watched two Heavy D videos--including the “Don’t Curse” cut--the rapper was ushered onstage to wildly enthusiastic applause and cheers. He fielded questions and comments from students as well as elaborated on the reasons why his material, unlike that of many of his peers, is free of curse words.

“There’s a time and place for everything, and school is not the place,” Heavy D told the rapt audience. “Profanity just isn’t necessary. You don’t have to talk tough to be tough. Just because you don’t go around swearing, saying s --- all the time, doesn’t mean you’re a punk.”

One student stood up and said it was “about time we have a rapper who doesn’t downgrade black women. . . . More (rappers like) you need to rise up.”

Claiborne agreed, saying that it was “a shame that the more rappers use offensive language, the more they’re apt to sell records.”

Heavy D closed out the session by urging students to not become part of black-on-black violence, then gave an impromptu performance of a new rap. Before the session ended and 20 musically inclined students prepared to leave on a field trip to MCA Records, Harris delivered the last word.

“Excuse me, Heavy D,” she said pleasantly, standing at a podium decked out with promotional photos of the rapper. “But you said s - -- . That’ll be 20 cents.”