ARC runs seminars

The Achievement Resource Centre is running
a spring schedule of "single session
seminars" starting at the end of January.
Each seminar is being offered on four
different occasions at varying times so
that any student should be able to fit it
into his/her schedule. The seminars are:
Reading the College Text (procedures for
improving speed and comprehension), College
Survival Skills (ideas for improving
studying) and Exam Preparation (for both
objective and essay exams). For more
information and a detailed schedule of
these seminars, contact the Achiévement
Resource Centre, B107 at local 356.

Lost & Found

LOST: 1 brown tweed cap. Robert Campbell
says it will be lonely without his head;
call him at 427 if you find it.

24% TheProvince Friday, Jan. 10, 1986

A Little less work

Effective now until June 30, Bill Little,
Information Officer, will be working the
equivalent of up to three days per week on
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Public
Relations Assistant, Donna McMahon will
now be working full-time weekdays from
9:00 to 4:30.

- Alan Smith

COLOPHON

The Informer is published sporadically,
but with high hopes of weekliness, by
Information Services, A118 or local
323 and 324. Submissions are more than
welcome. Photos are generally the work
of Dave Sharrock and Edna Sakata in
MPC, printing is done by Linda Givens
and Dave Callow in the Print Shop, and
the distribution is handled by the
denizens of the Switchboard and Typing
Pool. We reserve the right to deny
absolutely everything unless it's tax
deductible.

News Services _ .

DETROIT — An illiterate man is:

suing his school district for let-
ting him graduate.

Raymond Poremski, 25, says he
can't read the Detroit high-school
diploma he received six years
ago.

“He has gone from job to job
since then,” said his lawyer,
Joseph Konheim.

“When his employers find out
he can’t read, they fire him.”

Konheim will argue that school
officials violated Poremski’s civil
rights by failing to teach him to
read. ;

He contends that Poremski’s
freedom of speech was limited,

since he read and did math at a
second-grade level when he gra-
duated.

Later, he received private
tutoring and quickly rose to
third-grade level.

Other dissatisfied students
have filed at least two dozen suits
against schools around the US.
in recent years, but most alleged
malpractice or negligence.

Several U.S. legal experts said
they know of no case other than
Poremski’s involving constitu-
tional rights.

But an uphill lega! battle is
likely, according to constitutional
law expert Martin Kotch, a profes-
sor at Detroit College of Law.

“Responsibility is hard to
place,” Kotch said.

“Are you a bad teacher if
Johnny fails to read, or is Johnny
a dolt or recalcitrant? The courts
are very reluctant to judge that.”

Studies estimate that about 27
million Americans are function-
ally illiterate, and many are high-
school graduates.

If Poremski wins, “the TV net-
works will send camera crews
and there will be lots of litigation
around the nation,” predicted
Tom Jones, of the National Orga-
nization on Legal Problems of
Education.

BPR ES Be Ra LEAT ek mE