22—Friday, October 28, 1966 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Catholic Children's Attitudes Toward Jews, Negroes Revealed in study by Notre !Dame U. It is a report on "the Notre uncertain about this question. In Dame study of Catholic elemen- both the high and low levels of tary and secondary schools," and religiosity 1 out of 3 students it contains facts and figures of select the response 'not cer- tain.' It seems that even the most vital interest to all faiths. There are details regarding the religious families do not instill in children an open-minded at- JOHN D. O'CONNELL attitude of Catholic children and their parents relating to their Jewish titude toward Jews. The children RATED "OUTSANDING" neighbors that make this study one are as likely to select the uncer- BY DETROIT BAR ASS'N. of the most evaluative in dealing tain responses as to reject stereo- type by strongly disagreeing. Ap- CITIZENS' ADVISORY with the inter-faith questions in parently Catholic school children American society. COMMITTEE. Many attitudes are tested and do not so much have an unfavor- various areas are explored in this able image of Jews as that they extensive study, and in its treat- have no image at all. This may be ment of social-civic attitudes to- accounted for to some extent by wards racial and other minority infrequency of social contacts be- groups there is an item based on tween Catholics and Jews." "A more tangible relationship the posed-statement question: "There is something strange and is found between the students' different about Jews; it is hard to personal religiosity toward Jews know what they are thinking or than between family religiosity planning, or what makes them and attitudes," it is further shown. "Of the students who re- tick." The text explains that "the ste- port not attending Mass regu- reotype" in this item, "presenting larly on Sundays, 24 per cent Jews as strange, crafty, and are unbiased toward Jews; of the scheming was included to measure regular attenders, 31 per cent, anti-Semitism among the students an increase of 7 per cent over and to discover what background their irregular attenders. The stu- factors are associated with anti- dents who show the least preju- Semitic attitudes. The inquiry dice are those who attend Mass brought interesting results on "dis- several times a month besides tribution of biased and unbiased Sunday; 34 per cent of them re- responses to questions on attitudes ject the Jewish stereotype; We John D. O'Connell, promi- toward minorities," with expres- might expect those who go to nent criminal lawyer, is a candi- sions relative to prejudices toward Mass several times weekly to date for Judge of Recorder's Jews and Negroes. Analyzing the exceed those who go only sev- eral times a month in kindly at- Court at the election, Tuesday, ! table which presented the answers, titudes toward Jews, but actually the text of this study offers this November 8th. the percentages drop from 34 per summary: cent to 29 per cent. This brings The Detroit Bar Association "It appears that 7 per cent of the daily Mass attenders 2 per Citizens Advisory Committee our students gave strong assent cent below the regular attend- has classified Mr. O'Connell to the prejudiced statements, ers—the only time in our entire among the candidates for and an additional 9 per cent to study when the latter group dis- per cent accept them some- Judge of Recorder's Court as 15 plays more desirable attitudes what. The majority express un- "OUTSTANDING," which is than the frequent attenders." biased attitudes toward the Ne- the highest rating given by the The probers into these attitudes gro, although the majorities do Bar Association. not exceed two-thirds and three- pose the question: "One wonders Mr. O'Connell has a substan- whether those most devoted to the fourths of the students. Most sur- tial criminal practice and is prising is the high proportion Mass feel vaguely that they should currently working on 5 differ- selecting the 'uncertain' response not be too favorable toward Jews, ent murder cases. He has tried for the Jewish stereotype; 33 and therefore take refuge in the criminal cases throughout the per cent did not know how to `safe' category of not certain. It answer. This is the highest 'un- is even more puzzling when we country and is widely recog- certain' percentage reported in recall that the daily attenders at nized as an outstanding crim- the entire Student Attitude In- Mass report the least prejudiced trial lawyer. hlal dex. Indications are that stu- attitudes toward Negroes." He spent eight years on the There are interesting replies to dents in Catholic schools know prosecution side of the counsel very little about Jews, since the questions dealing with sex, table and about 25 years for over half of them (53 per cent) marriage, divorce and remarriage. the defense. He has had ex- either agree with the cliche or --rience as an attorney in all say they are not sure. Even the branches of the Prosecuting 'give-away' wording of the state- .'\i- tcrney's Office and the ment did not help the uncertain 33 per cent." „-urts. Since it has generally been be- He was appointed by the I esHent of the United States lieved women are more prejudiced, of special interest is the indication -1-iirrnan of the Michigan that "in all instances girls are less and Welfare Commit- H-a i th biased than boys, although the dif- in charge of federal funds ference is not so great at the - , Ilocated to Michigan for use elementary as at the high school feeding and housing dis- level." It is also pointed out that - laced persons in the event of "the high school students are 4 —emy attack or other catas- per cent less biased about sitting '. ophe during World War H. near someone of another race or As State Social Welfare Di- thinking of Jews as strange." Thus, the study shows: "Girls in rector of Michigan Mr. O'Con- general are 12 per cent less likely nell supervised and admin- than boys to say that sitting near istered the State Social Wel- a Negro disturbs them, and high fare Department. He headed school girls are less disturbed. The the Children's Bureau of Michi- same relationships hold for atti- gan, in which the state's pro- tudes toward the Jewish stereo- fessional children's workers are type, girls rejecting it 10 per cent employed, supervised a state more than boys." Even more vital is the state- institution for the blind in Sagi- ment that "more education of naw, the Boys' Vocational parents tends to reduce anti- School and the Girls' School at Semitism in children," that "edu- Adrian. cation beyond high school is Mr. O'Connell was formerly especially influential in increas- Chief Trial Lawyer on the ing unbiased responses in the Wayne County Prosecutor's children." The study asserts: staff. He worked in every "The education of parents shows a definite relationship to atti- branch of the Prosecutor's tudes of anti-Semitism. The more Office in which lawyers are em- education parents have, the more ployed. children manifest unbiased atti- He taught school in the De- tudes toward the Jews." troit Public Schools, Detroit In- There is emphasis on the fact stitute of Technology, and at that the "not certain" group is Michigan State University. He large. The survey also shows: taught Criminology at the col- "Whether a family is highly re- lege level. ligious or not makes little differ- Mr. O'Connell's candidacy ence in the percentage of children is endorsed by civic, business, who reject the stereotype of the legal and Organized Labor Jew. Nor does the degree of re- ligiosity seem to relate in a n y groups. - • .PoI. ' Adv. way to the proportions -who- are Financed by the Carnegie Foun- dation, a most impressive study, "Catholic Schools in Action," has been issued by University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Ind. On the question of mixed marri- ages, "23 per cent said that the person they would marry would have to be a Catholic; 25 per cent said that the person they would marry would most likely be a Cath- olic; 12 per cent said they did not intend to marry . . . On the 'less committed side, 36 per cent said their marriage partner would not necessarily have to be a Catholic, although they would like to marry one; an additional 4 per cent said that as far as they were concerned the person they would marry need not be a Catholic." The several tables revealing the social attitudes of parents are equally revealing, indicat- ing the following: "The goal of teaching children to like other races and nationalities was ranked high by 73.1 per cent of the parents, but only 46.3 per cent considered the schools highly successful in achieving this objective. A second related goal that Catholic schools should teach children to get along with others such as Jews was ranked high by 82.5 per cent of those responding, but only 48.7 per cent considered that the goal is met on a high success level and 8.4 per cent indicated little or no success." Thus, the various fields covered are most revealing. This is a study that should be considered as a ba- sis for further action in inter-faith relations and in acquiring data re- garding social attitudes among Americans. The thoroughness with which the University of Notre Dame study was conducted com- mends this volume to all students of educational and social needs in this country. Michigan is the home of three of America's billion-dollar cor- porations and 16 of America's hundred - million - dollar corpora- tions. As you are old and reverend, you should be wise. —Shakespeare ROWLEY* FOR STATE:IT'S/AMR I'm Keith Rowley. My dad says a major issue now facing the legisla- ture is a better program of state aid local schools. Elect my dad, Tom Rowley, State Senator and make sure he works on this problem with Gov. Romney. Remember: Rom- ney and Rowley, and call 356-2350 right now. E xperienced: .... Rcited utittinding 60-Asiociation ION TE AM e* A C IN AC, ON Pol. Ad. Pol. Ad. Judge For Yourself And You'll Re-Elect CIRCUIT JUDGE CA MANEIDEMAN FOR THE EIGHT-YEAR TERM 261 CARL M. WEIDEMAN JUDGE OF CIRCUIT COURT - Pol. Ad.