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 cscssssssnc.Esiit,.555s&y555555.5 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 case, we look forward to seeing you and welcomimg you aboard.