High Life A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Registration for the next California High School Proficiency Examination must be mailed before Monday.

The four-hour test will be given March 10 at about 100 places across the state. A certificate of proficiency, equivalent to a high school diploma, is awarded by the state Board of Education to those who pass the exam.

The exam costs $20 and is given three times a year. Information bulletins, which include sample questions, a list of test sites and applications, are available at high schools and most public libraries. Applicants must be at least 16 years old. For more information, call (916) 322-5010.

Teen-agers who exhibit violent behavior are being treated with more violence--albeit televised violence--in the office of Dr. Jeffrey M. Turley, a child psychiatrist and fellow at the University of Virginia.

To keep his unruly clients in line, Turley relies on Jason, the warped goaltender of “Halloween,” and Freddy Krueger of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series of movies. The psychiatrist found that the slasher films helped a 14-year-old boy, who axed the interior of his family’s home, deal with his feelings of anger.

But Dr. Carole I. Lieberman, a psychiatrist for the National Coalition on Television Violence, says she has misgivings about this treatment because she believes “these kinds of movies stimulate aggression.”

“Television enables you to be entertained in your home by people you wouldn’t have in your home.”

--David Frost