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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1980)
/IH&fJ UhiV Mts*xr**K* **■•**''!**%*/ Money found in abandoned locker ... (CH)When University of Toledo officials broke the lock off a locker that had been abandoned since 1975 they expected to find nothing more than some old clothing. But inside was a title for an automobile belonging to a former student and seven plastic- wrapped packages. The packages were filled with $100, $50 and $20 bills-$10,666 in all. Campus officials say in the future they will more regularly check out abandoned lockers. Roommate service acts as cover ... (CH) “Everyone needs a basic strategy,” says a University of Texas student who has parlayed that need into a roommate- for-rent business. Pamela Douglas, owner of Basic Strategy, will be the roommate both her clients and their parents “can live with” for a $25-per-month fee. Douglas acts as a cover for persons (mostly young women) who don’t want their parents to know who they are really living with. And when parents come to visit, Doug las’ clients can move into her apartment for the duration-for an extra fee, of course. Paper tells how to get free copies ... (CH) The University of San Francisco Foghorn didn’t make many friends in the administration when they published a column telling how to disconnect the meters on campus photocopying machines to get free copies. Male stripper hit of talent show ... University of Texas students were treated to a rather origin al amateur act at the Tavern’s Armadillo Amateur Night-a maje stripper. Introduced as “Captain Flash, a legend in his own pants,” senior business management student Bill Bagley started the act dressed in blue jeans and a shirt and ended it wearing only a red nylon bikini. As Bagley danced to music, women from the audience put money in his bikini. Although it was Bagley’s first performance, he said, “I’ve been practicing all my life.” focus THE BATTALION Policy: Focus will accept any stories, draw ings or photographs that are submitted for publication, although the decision to publish lies solely with the editor. Pieces submitted, printed or not, will be returned upon request. Deadline is 5 p.m. the Thursday before publi cation. Contributing to this issue were: Lynn Blan co, Angel Copeland, Doug Graham and Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Editors: Beth Calhoun and Rhonda Watters On the Cover: Dancing, costumes and medieval food were the fare for a recent celeb ration of the Society of Creative Anachron isms, an organization interested in what life was like in Medieval times and earlier. For a story and more photos, turn to pages 4 and 5. Photos by Lynn Blanco. IQ tests biased, psychologist says United Press International BURLINGTON, Vt. — The coun try-bred child who says a litter is something a sow produces — not something thrown on the street — may be paying a penalty for his spe cial knowledge. George Albee, a nationally known specialist in intelligence testing, said IQ tests have an urban bias — leaving rural children at a disadvantage when they are tested. “A city child has no problem answering a question about what a subway is. A rural child can tell you all about tractors, but he doesn’t know about subways,” said Albee, a University of Vermont psychology professor. “The problem is, the IQ tests have been standardized on middle-class urban children.” “That means the tests tend to dis criminate, by the kinds of questions they ask, against poor children and children from rural areas,” he said. Albee came to his conclusions about the problems faced by rural children as the result of his work on the ways IQ tests discriminate against black children. Last year, he was a key witness on behalf of black California chil dren who had been placed in clas ses for the mentally retarded as a result of intelligence testing. In October, the judge in the so- called “Larry P.” case ordered Cali fornia to stop using the tests and to re-evaluate all black youngsters in classes for the retarded, a decision hailed by psychologists opposed to the use of IQ tests. “These kids were what we call the ‘six-hour retarded child,” Albee said. “Outside school, they were per fectly adaptable. They could all ride buses and find their way home and tell you the batting average of every player on the San Francisco Giants. “They were only retarded by the standards set in the IQ tests,” he said. Albee said white rural children face some of the same problems as the California students. Not only do the kinds of questions asked on the tests tend to reflect an urban bias, but rural children have been brought up in ways that make IQ tests difficult for them. Since most IQ tests revolve around knowledge of words, Albee says the children who do best “are middle class kids from homes where there is a lot of verbaliza tion.” Many country children, for exam ple, miss the early experience of teachers and group story telling that are offered in day care centers and nursery schools. Albee said studies have shown children with a nursery school ex perience do better on later IQ tests. “In Cleveland, every church basement has a nursery school. You just don’t find that in rural areas where transportation is a problem,” Albee said. “Country children also tend to be more shy,” he said. “They don’t have a lot of practice with strangers. “Feeling uncomfortable in the presence of a stranger giving you an exam can definitely interfere with performance. “I’d be inclined to ban the tests altogether if they’re going to be used as a judgment for all chil dren,” he said. “They may be use ful, though, if they are used in con junction with all kinds of other mea sures." Albee, a former president of the American Psychological Associa tion, said a number of cases like that of Larry P. are scheduled to be heard soon. The decisions may al ter the way IQ tests are used. Gunfighter died wielding favorite weapon — a gun United Press International Bat Masterson, by Robert K. DeArment University of Oklahoma Press. $14.95 Bat Masterson died wielding his favorite weapon — and contrary to the myth perpetrated by film and fiction, it wasn’t a six-gun. It was a pen. Masterson was many things in his lifetime — gambler, buffalo hun ter, Army scout, sportsman, promo ter and gunpacking Western peace officer — but he was first, last and always a newspaperman. It’s primarily in that capacity—for the old New York Telegraph in his final days — that DeArment char acterizes the man whose name still rides with comfort among such legendary figures as Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickock. DeArment tells the tale of the real Bat Masterson, and in the history of the American West, such candor is as charming as it is rare.