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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.