DEAR EDITOR:
Cynthia Walker has returned from her field trips and political
indoctrination camps. It is nice to see that the hordes of evil
Union soldiers did not get the best of her.
DEAR EDITOR:
Cynthia Walker has returned from her field trips and political indoctrination camps. It is nice to see that the hordes of evil Union soldiers did not get the best of her. She has survived brain washing and managed to ignore the United States Army War College among others to render her verdict upon the “War on Terror.” She has returned to demonstrate her undeniable ignorance of mathematics education and statistics. Welcome back.
On July 9, Ms. Walker stated, “Mr. Haney, I took probability and statistics at Harvey Mudd College as part of my bachelors in engineering. That is the calculus-based advanced course, not the algebra-based elementary statistics course you just finished.” It is unfortunate that Ms. Walker’s use of her education as a weapon demonstrates that she retained little or no knowledge from her days at the hallowed, ivy covered, halls of Harvey Mudd College.
All statistics based upon z-tables and the student’s t-table are calculus based. The tables, used extensively in an “algebra-based elementary statistics course,” are generated using calculus. Students do not need to know the calculus behind the tables in order to use the tables; however, anyone who remembers anything about statistics who also remembers calculus would know that the tables are calculus based. This clearly makes an “algebra-based elementary statistics course” based upon calculus.
The “advanced course” (singular) that Ms. Walker took more than likely involved the exact same topics covered in the AP course. If the instructor stuck to a typical, “Probability and Statistics for Engineers” text, then Ms. Walker saw, but likely does not recall, about six minor additional topics. These topics typically run from the hypergeometric distribution to the ANOVA test. None of these additional topics have come up in The Dispatch.
The only other difference in a typical “advanced course” from the AP course is that there are examples in probability that use calculus to find the area under a curve. These problems still follow the basic tenets taught in the AP course.
Ms. Walker’s swiss cheese memory and “advance course” training clearly make her qualified to belittle and cut off Mr. Haney. If Mr. Haney knew the mathematics background of an engineer, then I imagine he might have instructed Ms. Walker to reread her “advanced course” text. Mr. Haney’s point is that Ms. Walker does not know what she is writing about and there is no denying that fact. It is understandable for Mr. Haney to assume that the ignorance shown by Ms. Walker meant that she had not taken a statistics course.
When a high school student from an “algebra-based elementary statistics course” correctly recognizes the faulty use of statistics from a college graduate who took a “calculus-based advanced course,” I feel I have done my job well.
Ms. Walker’s attempted use of her education as a weapon demonstrates a fundamental difference in educational philosophy between the two of us, but the 500-word limit means that have to wait for another day.
Wayne Scott, GHS mathematics teacher
Submitted Sunday, July 11 to ed****@gi************.com
