Page 6-Saturday, June 30, 1979-The Michigan Daily Black English plaintiffs rest case By ELEONORA DI LISCIA A school that fails to teach a child under any but the most extraordinary circumstances is ineffective and cannot be forgiven, according to a former director of human relations for Ann Ar- bor Public Schools who testified in the Black English case yesterday. Harvard faculty member Ronald Edmans was the last witness for the plaintiffs. The case, Which is being tried in federal District Court in Detroit, in- volves 11 students from Ann Arbor's Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. Lawyers for the children charge that the school failed to consider the children's black dialect in teaching them and therefore the children have not received an adequate education. WHEN ASKED to consider a hypothetical child who is a consistently poor achiever, Edmans replied, "The difficulty for that child is not derived from whether or not he was tested. It was derived from the school's response. We'd have to call it an ineffective school because it isn't fulfilling the standard of education to the population that it serves." Edmans said a school is required only to teach all its students math and lear- ning skills. "It is acceptable for some groups to do better than others. What is unacceptable is that there are in- dividuals who fail to meet the minimum prerequisite to fulfilling the standard." Presented with another hypothetical situaiton in which a school with a small group that consistently performed poorly in school, Edmans again said the school was ineffective. "It is ineffective on the premise that it was incumbent on a public school to deliver its basics to all students," KENNETH HASKINS, president of Roxbury Community College, testified that "the major problem I've found was the attitude that the staff and faculty have toward Black English. They ap- proach students as if they are trying to speak regular English . . . (they) haven'trlearned, rather than giving them credit for speaking their language. It takes as much intelligence to learn one language as another." Children may be characterized ac- cording to what family they come from and what learning skills they bring to school, Haskins said. "I've found that schools value certain things that children bring to school and those children get favored treatment," Haskins said. For instance, one child having a tem- per tantrum may be called strong- willed, Haskins explained. A child from a different type of family who has a temper tantrum may be considered over-aggressive and sent out of the classroom, he continued. HASKINS SAID he believes Black English has a place in the classroom. "I feel that if a person intends to be - Diggs to Pot kiekbaek r (Continued from Page 3) session, but carries no penalties. If he is censured, Diggs would be the first House member so punished since 1921 when Texas Democrat Thomas Blanton was censured for putting foul language in the House record. The one allegation to which Diggs admitted, was that he violated House rules by inflating the salary of one em- ployee, Jean Stultz, so she could pay $11,646.64 "of my personal expenses." To that allegation, Diggs wrote: "I admit that I am guilty." DIGGS AGREED to make restitution through a promissory note to the U.S. Treasury with repayment and interest to be deducted from his congressional salary at the rate of $500 a month. He said he volunteered to pay the money "in order to finally put to rest e $word's Out on cmlus.. . If you want to be in the know, you should be reading The Daily . . . the latest in news, sports, les affoires academiques, and entertainment ... CALL 764-0558 to order your subscription today educated, then the more things they can learn, the better. And to appreciate and see some value in the way anotner group of people express themselves would be in order." Kenneth Lewis, an attorney representing the children, clarified their position. "If exposure to Black English would aid that student to learn to read without stigmatizing the language, that would be integration. The school should accommodate students from all backgrounds." The plaintiffs rested their case yesterday and attorneys for the Ann Arbor school district expect to ask for a dismissal Tuesday. iy baek noney any doubts about my past use of my clerk-hire allowance." Diggs also promised that for the rest of the congressional session, staff members will sign statements they are being paid in compliance with House rules. IN ACCEPTING the deal, the com- mittee dropped charges that Diggs also padded salaries to compensate em- ployees for paying some of his official expenses. Diggs said later in a statement, "I sincerely regret that this controversy has taken place." Diggs testified in U.S. District Court in Washington last October the em- ployees voluntarily contributed parts of their salaries to help him meet an overwhelming burden of personal deb- ts. HE SAID he personally benefited from $12,015.30 worth of work Jeralee Richmond performed in his Detroit funeral home, and also received $15,615.04 from George Johnson, $560 from Ofield Dukes and $194.68 from Felix Matlock, while all four were on his congressional payroll. Diggs had claimed earlier the committee lacked jurisdiction to consider conduct during previous sessions of Congress since his constituents had reelected him with full knowledge of the case. "If this proceeding accomplishes nothing else it overrules the apparent precedents which indicate that Congress will not inquire into acts committed prior to a member's last reelection," Rep. F. James Sensen- brenner (R-Wis.), said. GEORGE ATKINS, Democratic chairman in Diggs' district, said the veteran House member still has full support of local party officers. "It's not too difficult to violate House rules," Atkins said. "But I haven't seen the specifics. I don't think this is the fir- st time. I'm sure every member of the House committee can be found to have violated House rules at some time. Diggs had sought in vain during preliminary hearings to persuade the committee to defer the case until his court appeal is completed, so publicity of a hearing would not interfere with his right to a fair trial if he wins a new one. Though nominally Christian, people of the Malagasy Republic cling to an- cient beliefs, holding that ancestors dic- tate health, wealth, and fertility of descendants: .-. '. -'- - R A NT PICTURES Prsts A MALPASO Q Execue Produce ROBERT DALEY yScreenpy Musc by)ERRY FIELDING -"Produced and Directe(