I pulled up my resources for my unit on the impact of media on society. As I reviewed my statistics on media use, it dawned on me that my own material was an example of the misleading statistics we study in this unit.
“By the time the average person is twenty-one years old, he or she will have seen one million television commercials.” Neil Postman, Conscientious Objections
“Two million American children watch television everyday of the year between 11:30 PM and 2:00 AM.” Frank Mankiavicz, Remote Control
The statistics do catch my students’ attention. They do focus our study. They are from reputable sources. So what is the problem? Simple: they are not given in a context. These statistics are from a book published in 1993. That does not mean they are not valid, but to be meaningful they must be viewed completely. A quick Internet search and I had current statistics to present alongside the ones I had.
We are a statistic-frenzied society. How many research studies are reported weekly without any context? How many do listeners accept as true without even asking how the study was conducted or if the conclusions reached are logical? Mark Twain said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." It is not only students who believe that statistics don’t lie. We all need help realizing that statistics need to be analyzed for how they were gathered or produced and how they are interpreted.
A great little book was recommended to me at a media literacy conference titled How to Lie with Statistics. The book is lively and a tongue-in-cheek approach, “a sort of primer in ways to use statistics to deceive….The crooks already know these tricks; honest men must learn them in self-defense.” Although written in 1954, it is still in print. After reading it, I have never looked at statistics the same, and I now try to teach my students to do the same. We are never short of examples from medicine to consumer trends to politics and of course, to education.
Students must learn to ask questions of the researchers. How did they gather the information? Was there bias in collecting the data? Was a representative sample collected? What is the context of the study? Are the conclusions logical? What is the research not saying? Has this research been replicated with similar results?
When we teach our students to be information sleuths, if you will, we prepare them to navigate the information explosion of the 21st century. A healthy skepticism or “show-me” attitude moves us all from passive to active mode not only in school but also in personal, professional, and community life.
Molly Berger is a guest blogger and teacher in Yakima.
Previous Blogs:
Flexibility, Feedback, and Relationships--All Part of Good Teaching
The Hard Part of Staying the Course
The Art and Science of Teaching
Recent News