To Observe, To Question, to Understand

To Observe, To Question, to Understand

I had taken this course this semester to learn about how statistics are utilized in social, economic and political research that we come across everyday within the media as well as scientific studies. I left my motif to that...until we began class.

I am one of those people that are "afraid" of numbers. I always have been. They were a driving force to take me further away from the fields I was (and still am) interested in (Astronomy, Engineering...). They illustrate a principle of conveyed antagonism, etched within the confines of algorithms and notorious numerical variations. They are, as you could say-My oppressor, and I was the oppressed, sanctioned off from a parallel universe of astronomical computations and gaussian beams. Not only this, but the research necessary to compile enough notes and data to make since of it all is riddled with wondrous statistical analysis and process. However, I recognize now that this mysterious (often fatal...for me anyways), voice with numbers-specifically statistics-is not so hard to comprehend if you take the time to observe, to question and then to understand. Statistics plays such an important role. And humans are in charge of them. On a day-to-day basis, we (the "consumer"), are swarmed with statistics, who need strong adversaries. In this class, that is what we have learned to be. It has made me a stronger person, and I am sure it has affected many of you as well. I question everything now-every number, every correlation and every stated causation said to be fact. As we have discussed today, it is crucial to require this same statistical analysis from everyone who is a presumed "Producer," "Purveyor," "Consumer," or "Decomposer."

As a community, society, and an entire nation, actually understanding where our news is coming from, and pushing people into teaching them how to question, should be a top priority. That is where scientific breakthrough comes from, and that is where cooperation is made. We are shown from a young age that math (the vast majority of it), is scary.As shown by the National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of eighth-graders taking algred went from 16% to 31% from 1990 to 2007. California had 4% of their eighth-graders taking algebra in 2009 (USAToday). This could be seen as a good thing, but also a bad thing. Many state that algebra is so abstract, that by the time kids are in middle and high school, most kids have difficulty in really understanding the math material given because basic math was gone over rather quickly when they were young. Overall, this may be detrimental to our society. Why do I bring this up? Because overall, the level of our education system represents the level of educational values that our officials are fine with. We should always desire progress, but with budget cuts to schools and headstart programs, to summer camps and financial aid, it is difficult to see how there could ever be a surplus of mathematician and engineer dreamers in our school system. This class has at least shown me, that math is useful, possible and interesting. And that is how our educational system should treat math. I feel that if this changes through each school grade, then we may also see changes in not only future math and science research, but also changes in media portrayals and use of statistics. It can change politics, the economy, and ultimately, society. And that is what I hope for. 

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-07-09/math-education-remedial-algebra/56118128/1

Also, for some satire-Report: Chinese Third-Graders Falling Behind U.S. High School Students in Math, Science

By the most reputable source on the internet-The Onion

http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-chinese-thirdgraders-falling-behind-us-high,31464/