Wednesday, May 14, 1975
THE MICH IGAN DAILY
Page Three
Wednesday, May 14, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three
Speakers in NOW forum
advocate divorce reforms
By SUSAN ADES
"Divorce reform is alive and
well and the National Organi-
zation for Women (NOW) is an
integral part of it," stressed
Ann'Russ Resautels of the Inter-
County Council on Divorce Con-
ditions at last night's monthly
NOW meeting.
The meeting, held at the
First Unitarian Church, was de-
signed to bolster community
awareness of the issues involv-
ed in the present divorce sys-
tem, with emphasis on the pres-
ent laws and some future direc-
tions.
THE PROGRAM opened with
a "myth shattering" presenta-
tion by psychologist Elizabeth
Waites, who claimed there are
nearly as many myths about di-
vorce as there are about mar-
riage. She attributed the num-
erous and widely-held miscon-
ceptions to "Hollywood no-
tions" initiated when "people
read about things like Zsa Zsa
Gabor getting a divorce."
In actuality, figures compiled
on divorce proceedings have,
according to Waites, proven that
the situation for divorced wo-
men in this country is not as
encouraging as a movie star's
precedent might predict.
Rather, Waites went on to
mention several areas - such
as alimony payments - in
which divorced wonen seem to
have cose out with the short
end of the deal.
SHE pointed out that often
the amount of money that a
woman has put into the mar-
riage situation is not taken into
consideration at the time of the
divorce hearings and "she can
probably kiss her contribution
goodbye."
Waites further indicated that
the divorced woman is down-
wardly mobile in society. She
explained that the fact that the
average income of a family be-
fore a divorce is $10,000-35,000
whereas post-divorce income
levels for women with children
drops to 5,000.
The Chief Assistant to the
Friend of the Court, J. Michael
Schroer, followed WXaites with
an explanation of the rel-ition-
See SPEAKERS, Page 6
Tests may hurt
minority children
MAY MARKS the beginning of watermelon season in Florida, and 5-year-old Robin Barton
seems determined not to waste a second of i a. Usually, Florida families pick up one of the
fresh, tasty melons on the way home from work at fruit stands that crop up on area street
corners and then let it chill for a few hours. But Robin just couldn't wait to take his first
bite of the season.
School
By JEFF RISTINE
Twelve persons, including two
incumbents, have filed nominat-
ing petitions for candidacy in
the June 9 Ann Arbor school
board election. Voters will pick
three representatives for three-
year terms.
Three millage proposals will
also appear on the ballot - two
of them renewals of present
funding.
CLARENCE Dukes, Jr., the
school board president, is run-
ning for a second term while
Cecil Warner, a Wayne County
school district administrator, is
seeking his third term as a
board trustee. Both men are
generally considered to be con-
board race set
servative. and may receive in-
direct Republican party isupport.
School board elections are
non-partisan, but-local Republi-
can and Democratic party mem-
bers frequently back one or
two candidates on an informal
basis.
One candidate, Shelly Ettin-
ger, will run on a Human Rights
Party (HRP) platform, accord-
ing to Diana Autin, a campaign
coordinator.
IN PREVIOUjS elections, the
IIRP has backed student candi-
dates who sought board seats
from write-in votes. Their
names did not appear on the bal-
lots because of restrictions re-
quiring board members to be at
U-P group seeks o
form 5s state'
IRON RIVER (UPI) - A Theodore Albert, an Ironwood
constitutional convention will resident who unsuccessfully
get underway next week in the campaigned- for Congress last
Upper Peninsula (U-P) and-it year on a secession platform.
won't be just another bicenten- "The meeting will be a type
nial celebration. of organizational program with
The convention was organized grass roots speakers who will
by a group of residents who are discuss the possibility and feas-
pulling out all stops in an at- ibility of secession," Albert
tempt to generate interest in added.
the secession of the U-P from The convention will be held
Michigan to form what they call May. 24 in the Michigan Na-
the state of Superior. tional Guard Armory at Iron
River. Albert said the entire
"WE'VE invited all the U-P Wisconsin legislative block has
lawmakers, Michigan's two Sen- indicated it will attend, but he
ators, and the governor as well. has received no indication from
as Wisconsin officials," said Michigan Officials as yet.
least 14 years old.
Autin indicated that Ettinger,,
a research assistant at the Uni-
versity's Institute of Labor and
Industrial Relations, should
have no trouble in establishing.
her candidacy.
The present board will de-
cide by tomorrow if any of the
12 potential candidates are in-
eligible, according to a secre-
tary at the public schools' ad-
ministration office. The peti-
tioners cannot withdraw their
candidacies after tomorrow,
THE OTHER nine persons.
who filed petitions Monday are:
Stanley Bielby, Barbara Elders-
veld, Jerome Epstein, John
Heald, Maxine Henson, D. Ste-
phen McCargar, Charles Moody,
Sr., Bernice Sobin and George
Wright.
Many of the candidates have
University occupations or are
otherwise connected w i t h
schools and education.
One of the three ballot propo-
sitions in the June election will
ask for a 1.5 mill increase in
the city property tax "to pro-
vide funds for operating ex-
penses" in the public schools.
The millage, if approved, would
remain in effect for five years.
A SECOND proposition re-
quests renewal of a three mill
levy, also for school operating
expenses. The third proposition
asks for voter approval of a one
mill renewal for the public li-
brary system. Both of these
millage renewals also cover a
five-year period.
Last year, a 1.3 millage in-
crease proposal for school op-
erations was defeated by more.
than 1800 votes.
By DAVID BLOMQUIST
Minority children still encoun-
ter substantial educational dis-
crimination as the consequence
of standardized test programs
biased in favor of whites, a Uni-
versity professer reported re-
cently.
"Publishers have -not control-
led these tests for ethnic differ-
ences," education Prof. Julius
Cohen concluded. 'They are be-
ing used on children for whom
the results are not meaningful."
C O H E N identified the stan-
dardization process - the steps
in test development in which
the scoring scale is developed-
as the principal source of cul-
tural discrimination.
"The original standardization
for these tests primarily involv-
ed white urban children. The
application on other populations
is just inappropriate," he stat-
ed.
Because minority students are
thus evaluated within a differ-
ent cultural framework than
their home environment. Cohen
continued, their final test scores
often do not represent actual
levels of aptitude.
BUT RESEARCHERS at Edu-
cational Testing Service (ETS),
the nation's largest publisher of
scholastic test materials, disa-
greed with Cohen's findings.
"The problemis that.the thing
that is being predicted (quali-
ty of future educational per-
formance) is itself culturally
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loaded," commented Ronald
Flaugher, an ETS consultant.
"To look for a test that has no
cultural content to be used as a
predictor of something that is
so cultur tly loaded is futile."
Flaugher noted tht ETS has
been researching cultural bias
influences in its testing pro-
gram, which includes the Col-
lege Entrance Examination
Board's Schoinstic Aptitude
Test (SAYi, for several years.
"PEOPLE DON'T rea'ie the
relative narrow purpose for
which the SAT was pronosed,"
he said. "We're not really look-
ing at the backprssnd 01 stu-
dents. We're lookinig for what
they're going to face in the fu-
ture. For that purpose, these
tests predict as accurately for
minority students as for major-
ity students
Dr. Eugene Thnipson, direc-
tor of testing and evaluation
for the Ann Arbor school sys-
tem, agreed that standardized
test programs - even with a
distinct cultural bias - may
work to the advantage of the
student, since they evaluate
ability to perform within the cul-
tural atmosuhere in which 'the
student will eventually have to
compete. "These kids are going
to have to move into the main-
streams of our society," Thomp-
son stated.-
However, he added that the
city's schools suspended dis-
trict-wide systematic testing
about five years ago.
55 . su s s 5 * **55 *SS t5 ass *:. .. !*.
J oin The Daily
We won't promise to clean up
the place for you, but we'll try
and find a red carpet to roll
out for prospective new staff
members tomorrow night at
7:30.
If you've ever had a yearning'
to shift from a reader to an au-
thor in any department of ihis
publication - be it news, edi-
torial, or arts/entertainment-
we invite you to drop by tomor-
row at 420 Maynard St. (that's
behind the LS&A, Building) to
say hello and discuss your in-
terests with us.
And if you can't make it by
then, just give us a call any
afternoon at 764-0552. In any
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you and welcomimg you aboard.