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I have a strong distaste for the misuse of statistics and this distaste is apparent in my writing. I distaste statistical polling of public opinions to make public policies; I distaste statistical rankings in general as such ranking can be used to peddle the virtues of the so called numero uno in a dynamic and changing world; I distaste the abuse of statistical correlation when such correlations are casual rather causal; I distaste the use of statistics when its results can be "correctly" biased to achieve the truth with the probability of 99%.

What we need is critical thinking and when I see everybody running around and being fast and being 'competitive' I see only superficial understanding. We must learn that we cannot delegate our social learning and understanding to experts, the Big Brains, as these experts have been selling their souls. So today, I want you to reflect on the significance and validity of these two international educational surveys and in this respect I want to point out the following:

The first survey sponsored by UNICEF ranks Canada at number 4 out of 24 countries.
The second survey sponsored by the National Geographic found that in the United States, 83 percent of young adults could not find Afghanistan on a blank map of the world, despite the devastating 9/11 attacks on the U.S. and the subsequent media spotlight on the Middle East and Central Asia. Further, young people in Canada and Great Britain fared almost as poorly as those in the United States.

I am developing the understanding of a statistical causal correlation between the plutocratic regime, their use of 'competitive' never ending statistical studies, and the furthering of our lack of critical thinking. This is critical thinking.

References

Pertinent articles published in Ensign

UNICEF ranks countries on academics CNN News, November 26, 2002 http://www.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/26/education.rankings.reut/index.html

Where's Afghanistan? 83 Percent Of Young Americans Don't Know http://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/press_roperstudy.shtml

Survey Results: U.S. Young Adults Are Lagging http://nationalgeographic.ibs.aol.com/geosurvey/highlights.html