[Vision2020] Paper on the Teachers' Salary Grid

[Bill Strand]

Dale wrote:

"Ron, this *is* a very interesting comment for the Department of Education
to
make -- considering that the American Federation of Teachers union (AFL-CIO)
says the opposite."

Dale,

I think you misunderstand the role of statistics here. The majority of
people make their conclusions first, then find the statistics to support
them. The union is trying to convince their members that they are doing a
great job for them. The Department of Education is trying to get more
funding. They have exclusive goals so they have different interpretation of
the statistics to achieve their goal.

The weird thing is, they can do it with the exact same statistics. One of my
engineers has a book with different cases of two sides using the same
statistics to prove their opposing viewpoints. These are actual case
histories. The book should be required reading for ALL disciplines at the
university level. So few people have an understanding of statistics. We have
a saying here:

"Those who don't understand statistics are destined to be misled by those
who do understand statistics"

Unfortunately, whenever you read any statistic, you also have to know who it
came from and what was their agenda. It is the reason I have little trust
for the statistic - only the raw data.

Bill Strand