[EPI welcomes
reader
feedback.]
The Florida Election Controversy: Implications
for Education -- Part II
During the past few weeks, most Americans have been
surprised by the complexity of ballot and electoral college
issues. Heretofore, most thought that counting the votes was
a relatively simple, straightforward procedure, but the
Florida controversy demonstrates that it is not. Suddenly,
the design of the ballot, who counts them, how ballots are
counted, the potential for error and the remedies for
inaccurate or allegedly inaccurate counts have emerged as
critical issues. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that
counting the votes to ascertain the winner is not the simple
process most citizens assumed it to be before November 8.
Persons active in politics have not been so surprised
although few have thought about the constitutional issues,
or whether there are any.
The fact is, however, that no one should have been
surprised by the fact that when scrutinized carefully,
government statistics on the outcome of the vote for
president are not reliable. What is different about the
Florida controversy is not the fact that the count is
riddled with uncertainties and inconsistencies, it is that
the uncertainties and inconsistencies have never been so
prominent or subject to such scrutiny. And this is true of a
wide range of government statistics. The statistics on the
per pupil costs of public education substantially understate
the costs. Test scores and state average scores are
notoriously unreliable; in fact, in 1987, a West Virginia
doctor discovered that every state reported that its pupils
were average or above or at the U.S. average on its test
scores -- an assertion that could not be refuted by
testmakers and state education officials. The population
statistics of the U.S. Bureau of the Census undergird some
of our basic political decisions, such as the state
entitlements to the number of representatives in the U.S.
House of Representatives, yet the accuracy of the census
figures is a fiercely contested political issue; in any
case, it is evident to anyone knowledgeable about the
nitty-gritty of the census count that it has a wide margin
of error. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Labor releases
cost-of-living (COL) data periodically, but its figures have
been bitterly contested as overstating or as understating
the real cost. The answer to the criticisms turns out to
depend more on the political power of the critic than on the
merits of the criticism.
The foregoing examples are just that -- a few examples of
the pervasive unreliability of the government statistics
that are cited to support or criticize important government
policies and decisions. "Accuracy" in government statistics
is a term of art, not an unequivocal statement of congruence
with reality.
My point here is not to support or oppose any party in
the Florida election controversy, but to ask why the
American people should have been surprised by the
controversy over the election figures. There are reasons
peculiar to elections, but the pervasive inaccuracies in
government statistics undergird my question. To push it one
step further, I suggest that something is wrong or missing
from our educational system when there is such widespread
gullibility about government statistics. It seems to me that
a reasonably intelligent high school student can understand
why government statistics are presumptively inaccurate if,
of course, the reasons are adequately explained.
The suggestion has or would have very little support from
parties who have a special interest in the high school
curriculum. The National Council for the Social Studies
(NCSS) does not have the issue on its radar screen. Textbook
publishers do not either. They follow state syllabi, which
follow the recommendations of prestigious academics and
curriculum directors, along with views of selected high
school teachers of American history, problems of democracy,
and other high school courses where the unreliability of
government statistics would seem to fit. But alas, it does
not, except perhaps as some idiosyncratic teacher might
include it. Still, we should not be especially critical of
the high school teachers when college curricula do not
include the subject in the curricula for most students.
This is where I have a big problem with "conservative"
proposals for the "traditional" high school and college
curricula. Rather than append my thoughts on the subject to
this column, however, let me ask for a rain check on it. In
the meantime, I hope you will think about including the
likelihood of errors in government statistics as something
to be included in everyone's education.
|
Building a Competitive Education Industry
