I belive somebody in our class already used the old witticism "70% of all statistics are made up", but I thought it was worth repeating. Chapter 7 in this book was completely hypocritical because it spent this first half of the chapter blasting how people misuse statistics, but then it turned around and completely did the same thing. It threw out numerous statistics on violence, pregnancy, etc. The one that got me the most was that they made a comment about teenage mothers being poor, but they seem to claim that the statistic was irrelavent because they were poor before they were pregnant. WHAT!!?? THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT OF THE STATISTIC!! They shouldn't be having children because they do not have the means to support them. So, we need to concentrate on that group (dare I say the word teenagers...oh my god, I said it!) and educate them on safe sex. Is that singling them out? YES, it's supposed to!
Look, we can sit here and argue statisics all day long, but the point is that they are skewed to help the person or group presenting them. This was one thing that the book said right, the problem is that they turned around and did it themselves. It doesn't take a genius to turn on the TV and see some of the absolute filth that is played to young people. "Reality TV" that is so far from reality that it should be called something else. Violence, sex, drug use and other degradations are prevelant in our entertainment. You don't need statistics to see that these things are more prevelant in our teenager's societal lives. Does this mean that adults aren't doing it? Of course not, it means that they were teenagers once absorbing these things and now SOME of them are doing them. Kids bringing guns to school and shooting up teachers and other students. This happened fifty years ago, maybe once or twice, but not frequently. If you believe that these things can be a regular part of our teens everyday viewing and lifestyle without some negative effects. then you are probably the ones guilty of promoting such behavior. It is true that statistics drive me crazy, but I also am reasonable and can judge the odds and relativity on this subject.
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Andrew, I definitely felt the same way about the statistics. If we're going to read an obviously dated article so jam-packed with "statistical evidence," I would really like, dare I say it, to read another article with either updated statistics or statistics more concentrated on the Milwaukee area. The author of this article seems rather intent on criticizing the Clinton administration and seems to focus much of the argument with statistics related to how good ol' Bill is abusing our nation's children. Statistics from a varied perspective, updated, and pertinent to our area would be much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThe article did make several points which I took as both meaningful and useful, however, in the way we view the "problems" with our youth (which are not so much problems with the youth but problems with adults and the system that are being ignored.) Perhaps productive ways of how change is being implemented in these areas would have been nice to hear.