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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1967)
Page 2 Summer Nebraskon Wednesday, July 5, 1967 I International Party Music from six different countries and slides from four countries will entertain those attending an informal get-together sponsored by People to People Friday at 7 p.m. at the Hungry Id in the basement of the Wes ley Foundation on campus. Foreign students will be dressed in their internation al costumes, folk singers are to bring their guitars, refreshments will be provid ed and everyone is invited to attend and participate in the festivities. People to People is a Uni versity of Nebraska student organization active through the year and designed to orient foreign students to the University and to Ne braska. This group of students re cently added an internation al flavor to the Chek Fes tival in Clarkson by present ing Turkish and African dances. Hungry Id Opens Door To Students The Hungry Id, a coffee house developed to fulfill the students' need for self expression of arts, will open Saturday, July 8 and con tinue through Aug. 1 in the basement of the Wesley Foundation. The Id is open to all re ligions, cultures and ideas with emphasis on diversity, according to Director Rich ard Stelnmetz. It provides a place for students to go informally, without dates, to talk and express themselves on any subject, Stelnmetz said. "A 1 1 h o u g h the coffee house is grounded on theo logical ideas, we don't want it to become a Methodist ghetto or a Sunday school class," he stressed. There is a valid place for nil students and faculty in this arena for all forms of thought, Stelnmetz com mented. Stand up entertainment including poetry reading, debates, speaking and folk singing are encouraged among those who attend. Students can display their art work here too, he said. The Hungry Id first op ened after Thanksgiving in 1966 and will be open on Tuesdays from 8:30 to 11 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 to 12 p.m. this sum mer. Red lights, candles, wood en tables covered with bur lap tableclothes and a make shift stage create a very distinct atmosphere on cam pus. The menu Includes ci der, doughnuts, coffee from regular to Cafe' Anise and tea from Constant Com ment to Lapsang Souchong. Anyone who wants to help work can leave his name and telephone number at the office in the Wesley Foundation, Steinmetz said. AAACE Convention Held Here Nebraska, current national headquarters for the Ameri can Association of Agricultur al College Editors (AAACE), will host the national AAACE convention here, July 9-12. Over 350 agricultural college editors, their wives and chil dren from across the nation are expected to attend the na tional convention at the Ne braska Center for Continuing Education in Lincoln. Key note speaker for the event is George Mehren, Assistant Sec retary of Agriculture. AAACE is composed of agri cultural and home economics information workers from the Land Grant Colleges and Uni versities of the 50 states and Puerto Rico, U.S. Department of Agriculture information specialists, and associate members including a number representing ag news media. Its total membership cur rently stands at approximately 550. The group will be wel comed at the July 10 noon luncheon by Dr. Clayton Yeut ter, executive assistant to the Governor of Nebraska. Spe cial features on the conven tion agenda Include presents tion of the national AAACE communication awards and a Nebraska Centennial, barbe cue et the convention center. Highlighting activities for AAACE wives Is a tea at the Governor's Mansion with Hsu Nubert Tiemann. t NIA officers Mohinder Atwal of Uganda, president; Wayne Knncl, advisor; Sam Bioku of Nigeria, secretary; and Pam Kot, vice president discuss plans and design name tags for the International party. University of Nebraska Students Who Drop Out Offer Variety of Reasons By Bob Flasnlck NU School of Journalism "I'm getting married." "I broke my leg." "I can't find a baby sit ter." "I no longer want to be a lawyer." "I've got to go home and help my folks." "I just got drafted." These Incongruous state ments may sound like a hodge-podge of comments without any common pur pose, but they're not. They are typical reasons given by the 306 students who with drew from the University of Nebraska during the first semester of the 1966-67 school year. For a student to with draw, he must fill out a form giving the reason for his leaving "which may or may not have anything to do with the real reason, ac cording Lee W. Chatfield, associate dean of student af fairs and acting registrar at NU. Chatfield says that rea sons given for withdrawals generally fall into three cat egories: health, financial and "needed at home." Scholastic Reasons "About half of these kids are saying 'I just don't like school,' " states Chatfield, and of these the reason is usually scholastic. Chatfield says that the problem of adjustment at the University is not as great as it is sometimes be lieved, or at least it is pre dictable from a student's , high school record. "In general a student will be ... the kind of student he was in high school," Chatfield says, adding that there are "exceptions both ways." Among these exceptions are students with excellent high school records who lose all interest in school, skip most classes, and in Chat field's words "go to pieces." But generally, Chatfield says, "the acute problems which students say they face at the University don't seem to affect them too much if their grades are all right." In a typical freshman class, Chatfield says that about 83 per cent of students ranking in the top fourth of their high school class ad vance to the second semes ter of their freshman year with an acceptable grade average (2.0 on the 4-point scale). Of those graduating in the second fourth of their high school class, about 70 per cent advance with ac ceptable grades. About 40 per cent of the third fourth of the high school students make acceptable grades while less than 20 per cent of the lower quarter stu dents earn acceptable marks during their first semester. Responsiblity These figures are consis tent through various sizes of high school graduating classes, be it 7, 70 or 700 he said. One of the biggest prob lems, Chatfield says, is get ting students to come to the administration for help. The students "can get just about any kind of help FAIT TIME AIT EDUCATOR Port tlnw art KwaMr witti mm ri kHtwy ktrovni MM4 to train nMwv tvWM it rcsr. CM r Mad 4WHi!:ain Harmon ink J-'-tW.n Art bailer? tinci, Nf.r. bt JOS Features Singing "HL- - I they need on campus, if they'll just ask," he said. He added that some stu dents "don't accept the personal responsibility for their commitments." Generally, he said, these are the students who do poorly in high school. This type of student, Chatfield says, is a person who won't take the re sponsibility for finding out "what he doesn't know, and hopes he never has to. That doesn't work at the University.' The University physical and mental health center, counseling service and fi nancial assistance depart ment are among the ser vices a student can use to help solve his problems. Chatfield says he once wrote 75 students in good scholastic standing, but who failed to return to school, asking them their reasons for dropping out. Ex-Soldiers Answers like work and and marriage were preva lent, Chatfield says. "There was nothing in the reasons they gave that the Universi ty could do anything about." One type of students des tined to become more nu merous at NU is the Viet nam veteran. Lewis F. Fowles, associate dean of student affairs, says that in one case last fall, a soldier who was released from the armed service in August and enrolled at Nebraska in September wasn't able to make the adjustment from the war to the books that quickly. Fowles says it is quite common for students who have real problems to con ceal them and not give the real reason for their with drawal. "Yon get a multitude of reasons," Fowles says," "and many times these are cover-ups. When we actual ly get to visit with him, we often find his problem isnt what he first tells us It is." In a study of the 306 stu dents who withdrew from NU in the fall semester, Fowles found the break down of their reasons as follows: personal or un known, 21 per cent; health, 16 per cent; financial, 15 per cent; poor grades, lack , of interest, dissatisfied, 13 per cent; employment, 12 per cent; military service, 6 per cent; marriage, 5 per cent; withdrew to attend other school, 4 per cent; moved out of state, 2 per cent. Also included in 306 students are six who died. Grade Average When it is evident that a student is having scholastic problems, Fowles says, or when administrators hear that a student has a prob lem, the student is asked to come to the administra tion for help. Many students respond, Fowles says, but "a lot of them don't. We send for a lot of people." Bnt he ad- Ccpitol Cty Mobile Home Soles Headquarters for Great Lakst, Van Dyke, Name mobile homes. Local bank financing. Will deliver throughout Kebr. 432-0736 2703 W$t 0 4w - -r- 4 - Mi A j j - ' i ULJi mits if they all responded, "we couldnt possibly tee them all." "That's why we put it down on a piece of paper, so they'll know what kind of grade average they are expected to make" to stay in school. The administration works within a general policy as far as flunking a student from the University but there are no set rules, Fowles says. A student who averages below a 2.0 in a semester is put on scholastic probation and is expected to achieve a 2.0 the following semes ter and to keep his cumu lative average at 2.0 or bet ter at' all times, but there are many exceptions to these rules, he says. In other instances, if it is evident that a student can not be successful with the University work, he is dropped for unsatisfactory scholarship after the first semester of his freshman year. Fowles says that NU, like most major schools, drops the biggest number of stu dents in June, with fresh men accounting for the larg est percentage. Weeding Out Sophomores are the sec ond largest number to be dropped in the June "weed ing out," both at Nebraska and across the nation, ac cording to research reports. Fowles says that once a student becomes a junior, the chances of his graduation are good. He stated that most of the students dis missed at the end of their junior year are "people who have been dragging their feet borderline stu dents." There are times in the school year when student withdrawals can be predict ed, according to Fowles. Be fore and after Thanksgiv ing and Christmas, students are home or going home and some want to stay there. A change in plans after the first few weeks of school also accounts for a large number of with drawls. Fowles says. Many times these are transfer stu dents who decide they would rather attend their previous school, he said. Dean Fowles makes It clear that students who leave Nebraska fit rather precisely into a larger na tional withdrawal pattern both in the relative number of student withdrawals and the reasons given for them. But the real reasons for a student's withdrawal are often a mystery to the ad ministration and known only by the student himself. 4J SUMMER; VVAYewfr MAH ( wi) fancy ughtuY Tma to n no One block north of Vine on 27th Easily accessible from W and Pear Sts. HOME OF THE CHUBBY STEAKBVRCER plUIIIIIMIUINIIIIHIIIIIininiHIIIHIIMM By Mary Lea Cooksley Wallace NU School of Journalism Get married and live happily ever after. That's the goal for most Ameri can girls. But do all brides "live happily ever after?" University of Nebraska researchers in human de velopment and the family have found that for teenag ers, the chances of marital success are considerably less than average. ' What causes the problems In teenage marriages? How successful are these marri ages in Nebraska? Do teen age marriages have special problems and special satisfactions? A team of University of Nebraska researchers led by Mrs. Ruby Gingles, as sociate professor in human development and the family, has been conducting a ten year study to find the an swers to these questions. The team developed a re search plan to compare the background, personalities and aspirations of 300 Ne braska girls who married at 18 or younger with a matched control group of girls who did not marry young. Another 110 girls were selected by Interview and questionnaire for a con tinuing study on the prob lems and satisfactions of young marriage. Comparisons Anallzed After the personalities, problems and aspirations of the young marriers were analyzed and compared with the girls who did not marry young, the research ers found that the girls who married young were less mature emotionally, had less happy home lives, and had practiced earlier and steadier dating than the girls who did not m a r r y young. The research team con cluded that there were gen eral types of girls who tend ed to marry young. Girls in the first type felt emo tionally Insecure and push ed into the promise of marriage to escape an un happy home life. The sec ond type seemed to mature earlier, b n t had compara tively low aspirations to ward college or career. Neither did they expect as much from marriage as the girls who married later. On the other hand, the tests showed that parents' ability to finance children's college education made little or no difference in the child's age at marriage. Another interesting study result showed that the hus bands of the 300 young marriers averaged 5.4 years older than their wives, com pared to the average two year age difference. And how successful were these young marriages? Of the 110 couples includ ed in the continuing study, at least 43 are still mar ried after seven years. Twelve of the couples are known to be divorced, four are widowed and 51 did not reply to the research ques tionnaire. Divorce Rates Although divorce rates for Nebraska's teenage marriages are not known accurately, Mrs. Gingles es timates they are higher than one divorce in five marri ages, compared to one in four nationally. Were there any differ ences between the 43 inc- cessfnl young marriers and the 67 other couples? Comparisons showed that the 43 successful wives averaged eight months old er than the other wives, while their husbands were ATTENTION 16 Trkmph SOOct Only 3200 mIIm. MMt Mil by Aug. 13. Cll 444-7708 iriMri 7730 Starr St. I Ill" IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUWIIIIIIIIIii'iJII'" Nebraska Teenage Marriage J Studies Show Many Hazards J three years younger than tne other husbands. Aver age age difference for the successful married couples was 3.3 years, compared to 7.2 years for the other couples. Many of the other wives stated that finding mutual friends and social activities was a problem in their marriages. They felt they had "little in common" with their older husbands. In the group of success ful marriers, there were more who graduated from high school, more who had longer periods of dating be fore marriage and more who depended less on fi nancial help from parents. After seven years of mar riage, many of the success ful marriers thought they had been too young at the time of marriage, and three-fourths of them would not want their younger sis ters to follow in their foot steps. Bad Transitions One successful wife told researchers, "I was 17 and my husband was 18 when we married. The first three years didn't run too smooth ly." What did these successful marriers feel were the spe cial problems and satisfac tions of early marriage? The problems they listed far out numbered the satis factions. Eight wives stated definitely, "There are no advantages in such an early marriage." One wife re marked, "There are no ad vantages, unless it would be to escape from an un happy home life." Financial problems took first place in marriage dif ficulties. Difficulty in find ing a job that would pay enough to raise a family, and immaturity in money management were most often mentioned. "The reason I wouldn't marry so young is because the cost of living is so high. Since I got married, I have worked away from home all but two years. If I had worked before marriage, I would have been able to stay home with our family Instead of working," one wife said. For these young couples, the principal concern is "just fi n d i n g a job that pays enough to raise a fam ily" a problem that will become increasingly diffi cult as their families grow larger and the living costs continue to rise. Next on the difficulty list came problems related to personal adjustment and maturity level. Many Disadvantages Ability to make wise de cisions, "stepping out" on each other, not being ready to settle down, and hus bands wanting to spend all their leisure time with oth er men, were typical re marks. One comment, "Our social activities are not what I would like them to be. I like to get out with my hus band and some friends, but the men just don't seem to want to go out," was made by a young wife who was 16 when she married her husband aged 24. "Missing o u t on things,' such as youth, dating fun and a chance to become inde pendent, were disadvantag es mentioned by 17 of the 43 wives. Mrs. Gingles suggests that husbands end wives CbrwM TIAIUi T0W1NI Kil ls) SS", litMl MMat tft, n or off la MCMafc "fiSPUCTA SNlUr - tntH h4 tai wfMUabM frM bfi Ml armi. CostMi mn ftr each car. -WSICI U0 SCSIEiU" JLQc far ntst can "CLASS TINT" keeps rear car ceator tea aaty ea $ff 8 Mm eyes "IATTE&7 OtARSif ftr dry batterlet, flatMgkt tmi ratfia. tat $160 ireae A9S 10c lattery ea. Cfcrwne tatee' "ClOTKtl MANS II lAf, darabw steal tMa U9 Mcetapcs ea. Ovorairtead "IRAKI JOI", beat 4 ciceet art laker, ail lerdt 4 Si I? CO Chamfets Service Oarage A fltEI PARKINS at rear of iter. DIAL 477-4491 216 So. 11th nearer in age may have in terests more alike. Also, a few more years of maturity may bring the readiness "to settle down" that was mentioned so often as a problem in achieving mar riage adjustment. Seven of the successful marriers mentioned In-laws as special problems. One wife who had been married seven years stated, "My mother-in-law does not real ize that I can take care of her son now." The researchers found few in-law problems during the first two years of mar riage when relations be tween young couples and their parents were very close. Instead they seemed to arise as young couples assumed the financial re sponsibilities of marriage and parenthood and sought the independence from par ental support they had not been able to achieve be fore marriage. In-Laws Are Problem One wife wrote to re searchers, "Our biggest problem is in-laws. The best way to cope with this is to move away and stand on your own feet not having them prying into your affairs all the time." On the side of special sat isfactions, "our children," having them, loving them, growing up with them, ranked far above the other satisfactions of marriage. "Is it completely desir able to have children at such an early age that one can grow up with them? Or should parents grow up before they become par ents?" Mrs. Gingles ques tioned. Some couples regarded children as mixed bless ings. The wives sometimes felt tied down because they had children so soon after marriage, or because they had several children too close together. They loved and enjoyed their children, but sometimes felt they had given up their own freedom too soon. Half the wives mention ed the companionship of husbands as a special sat isfaction. Other wives were taking husbands for grant ed as they listed the shared satisfactions of having their own home and working for common goals. For some, the husband -wife relationship was not as satisfying as they hoped, and they listed the lack of mutual friends and social activities as problems. Unique Hazards "These 43 wives now recognize that teenage marriage does have unique hazards," Mrs. Gingles said. "But they had the maturity, stability of p e r sonality, and perhaps the support of families to help them withstand the stress es of very early marriage. Others have not been able to withstand these strains placed upon them at an early age and their mar riages have ended in divorce. Additional com ments from these success ful young wives revealed their feelings about their own Initial readiness for marriage. "If I could live my life over again, I 10 5 i DIAMOND PkAIW ...M, , , (i 1 I -1 . nw "6" ITSEET BBOiatBUD JSITEIEM A KZ EIC AN OKM SOCIETr Serving Lincoln Since 1905 I would marry much later. You can always get mar ried and have children, hut when you marry you give up the fun of your dating life." One husband commented. "If I had the chance to do it all over, I would marry my wife again, except that I would have waited until she was through high school and I was at least 22 years old. Then we would have been old enough to make sound judgments and to control our money better. You need the time to know each other." A wife summed up the problem with this state ment, "One thing that comes to my mind is that early marriage in our case was the result of going steady too young and too long, it left only marriage, which I would never recommend for a 16-year-old boy or girl. Finish high school. Have your fun and education be cause it is far too hard to get it later." Ag Campus Enrollment Record Set A record high of 51 high school vocational-agriculture teachers, county exten sion agents and graduate students have enrolled in summer school courses in agricultural education at the University of Nebraska Col lege of Agriculture and Home Economics. Dr. James Horner, chair man of the Agricultur al Education Department, credited part of the enroll ment increase to federal legislation which expanded the definition "vo ag educa tion" to Include agribusi ness as well as production agriculture. He noted that at least two-thirds of the summer school students are work ing towards advanced de grees. Course offerings this summer include classes in entomology, curriculum de velopment, adult education, special problems in ag ed ucation, advanced methods, field work and coordination techniques for off-farm agriculture occupations. The summer Ag Edu cation courses are run on a special four week basis through July 7, because vo ag teachers are hired on a 12 month basis and arc permitted only a month off for vacation or education. Horner commented that need for vo ag teachers is greater now than ever be fore because of the expan sion of vocational agricul ture to include farm re lated areas. Among the programs which the Ag Education Department of the College of Agriculture has under taken to meet the new demands is a four-year study, financed jointly bv the U.S. Office of Educa tion and the University, aimed at determining how best to meet new voca tional agriculture needs. It I N 9 I PROM
