[Vision2020] Paper on the Teachers' Salary Grid

Tom Hansen thansen@moscow.com
Mon, 17 Feb 2003 17:08:24 -0800


I tend to agree with Mr. Strand.  Interpretation of any statistics has
always been left up to the presenter.

To put a new twist on the old Half Glass of Water analogy:  The pessimist
sees the glass as half empty.  The optimist sees the glass as half full.
The engineer sees the glass as too big for the water.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]On
> Behalf Of Bill Strand
> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 3:53 PM
> To: 'Vision 2020'
> Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Paper on the Teachers' Salary Grid
>
>
> 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
>
>
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