Understanding the significance of numbers presents difficulties for people. Abilities vary. In a Radiolab podcast today, for example, the artist, Chuck Close, commented that his own inability to do elementary arithmetic stems from a learning disability. Once we leave math class behind, many of us have trouble imagining what numbers mean or how to compare them. Using a picture can help. The reliable pie chart is often a good starting point for understanding percentages. Visual analogies—Do we mean a quart or a gallon when we talk about a leak?—can help us understand the magnitude of a quantity.
In TV Land, Fox News provides frequent, confusing interpretations of statistics. On Monday this week, our educational issues were showing in the network's morning broadcast. Megyn Kelly, a morning news reader frequently cited for her issues with numbers, froze when commentator Stuart Varney tried to explain that the number 500,000--as in layoffs--would be more significant in Britain than in the U.S. if you looked at the number as a percent of population. As Kelly’s deer-in-the-headlights look widened, Varney struggled to make this perspective concrete. Ms. Kelly was unable to get in touch with her inner pie chart. Varney gave up. I pedaled harder on the cross-trainer to overcome my disbelief.
Now I’m not generalizing about Americans and numbers, but I am worried about the staying power of classroom instruction given the public ignorance that is on display every day. Journalists could give students a good example about how to manage language and numbers instead of providing comedy show fodder. Teachers would probably appreciate an enhanced cultural standard for presenting information to a general audience. Dare we hope for Edward Tufte's ideas about The Visual Display of Quantitative Information to get more play?
Students see more television than instruction during the week, so what do you think will stay with them? There is a civic reward in representing numerical information with elegance. It helps us find the truth instead of the spin. We could all take a little more time to figure things out. Think about the value and values added.
Have you checked out Megapenny to see what a trillion looks like? Or have you given up on understanding the deficit? We all need to get beyond hopeless, or poor education will be the least of our problems.
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