Better EducatorsStat Suks As long as stats are taught by essentially applied mathematicians
As long as stats educators have never analyzed real data and made
a nontrivial conclusion in the subject matter area
As long as stat educators fail to realize that "stats" has evolved into
several related fields and the toolkit in one is not useful in the others
As long as stat educators spend so little time on explaining the consequences
nd lost opportunities if assumptions about the data are not met
As long as subject-matter departments do not recognize a math track through
linear algebra rather than one that leads to differential equations
As long as stats educators and pros refuse to understand why some people
use heuristic procedures
None of this is appropriate in the case of advanced physics students
(uncertainty people) who use stat reasoning very differently than mere mortals.
As long as stats faculties fail to realize the goodies used by
astronomers, geoscience spatial analysis, environmental analysts
(pollution, mixing of sources, source definition, etc.), physical
modelers, etc. These guys are not waiting for the stats dept to givethem a hand on "non-trivial" problems.
As long as stats people by and large refuse to come to grips with
Non-linearities, heavy tails, and other states that make things difficult.
As long as stats faculties do not recognize that logical experimental design,
the concept of confounding, of uncertainty, objective criteria for decision makers
should be part of a liberal education...much more important than Latin Squares.
Robert Ehrlich
Required elementary statistics courses are a part of the problem.
Any faculty that requires a course as part of its degree program should be ready to
justify it rationally, indeed, should demonstrate its intellectual honesty by assuring
that all the members of the faculty can pass the course. I've known faculties that
require many courses by their students in which the faculty show their ignorance daily.
Either make the course an elective or demonstrate that its important for faculty
as well as students.
Robert Ehrlich
I became a statistician purely by accident. I took psychological statistics in my sophomore year in place of embryology
(which I still regret not taking). The professor knew so little mathematics I was forced to study the subject on my own.
When I transferred to Berkeley, I majored in statistics as sort of a digression.
Phillip Good