We're in Ireland now. Left home on Aug. 16, landed in Dublin on the 17th. Took a cab to the Grand Hotel in Malahide, a short drive NE from the Dublin airport. The Grand is the site of a 2-day conference of the International Association for Statistical Education -- my excuse for making this particular trip at this time.
About 60 statisticians are gathered here to try to figure out what we can do to help people like you appreciate statistics more and to be more statistically literate so you won't be duped by bad data or inept or dishonest statistical analyses. It's a hard problem. People have worked diligently on it in the 40-some years I've been in the field. But, you won't listen. People who take our classes say they, the classes, are too boring/hard/confusing/... . They don't get it. We try teaching it early, K-12. We try to make it fun. We try to make it practical. We try to make it simple: it's just common sense applied to data, after all. Trouble is, I think, we're outnumbered by the people making it boring, hard, confusing, ... . We gotta find 'em and stop 'em! That was the unspoken, but underlying theme of my talk. We may be our own worst enemies, particularly in our introductory textbooks, my pet peeve.
Susie says , "Oh, poor Robbie----no one understands his stress in teaching statistics. Yet, when I relate how life is with a class full of children whose parents are in the wings ready to tell you how to teach, he shakes his head and I know inside he is smirking! By the by, our B and B hostess last night related how much harder American teachers have it compared to their Irish counterparts. She has a teacher sister in the states and knows that USA teachers spend many more days in the classroom....so there all you naysayers! May I add, however, that I really loved to teach.
Back to MY story (R): Aside from my curmudgeonly attempt at comic relief, there were some good talks by impressive people working at various levels of the educational system. One who stands out is a lady from South Africa, Delia North. The government has included statistics in the official syllabus at all grade levels. Trouble is, many teachers are not trained or comfortable in teaching it. Delia is forming teams, with a member from a university, one from the dept. of education, and one from the government's Official Statistics Office. They prepare and conduct in-service training, mentoring and follow-up. South Africa has unique problems -- multiple languages in a single classroom, large class sizes, poor facilities, and the residue of apartheid. But, she's having a great time working in this situation - very enthusiastic. Positive feedback helps: one trainee said, "I like this thing, statistics." Several other speakers described innovative efforts to enhance statistical literacy among the citizenry.
We did get in a little Dublin sightseeing. On Thursday afternoon we took the train into Dublin, then rode a hop-on/hop-off bus around the main sites - government buildings, churches, Guinness Brewery, Trinity College, ... . Here are some random shots from the back of the bus.
Here's a bit of the Guinness complex - 64 acres.
We had planned to go see the Book of Kells at Trinity College after we completed the circuit, but we got there just after 5:00 to find out that the library housing the Book was closed. The Book of Kells is a lavishly decorated transcription of the Four Gospels of the New Testament. Just before we came to Ireland I read the book, How the Irish Saved Civilization. Followers of St. Patrick, in medieval times, copied much of the literature that existed at that time, not only religious works but scholarly works in general. At the time, the barbarians were overrunning Rome and Greece, burning libraries and wreaking other havoc. Thus, those monks, slaving away in caves in Ireland, saved civilization's canon. Later I found out that other scholars don't give quite as much credit to the Irish as to book's author does, but still it was a good book.
Here's a Trinity College scene.
As you can see, it was raining at the time. Susie had an umbrella, I had a cap. Somehow, in the course of several cab and train rides over Thursday and Friday, we lost both.
Friday evening, after the conference was over, we went in to Big D again, this time to see Riverdance. That was/is an amazing show -- particularly the tap dancing. Susie ...both Rob and I had seen Riverdance in Albuquerque, I really wanted to experience the Irish dancers who included several from the US---most impressively, the two tap dancers who hailed from NY via Broadway and Oklahoma City University. Of course. rhe performance was wonderful not unlike the Alb. version...the main difference being that the Irish audience didn't hesitate to whoop and holler when they saw something they liked..
Susie says----We have been in Ireland a short time but I have become aware of a few things---the Irish like their huge Catholic churches, their beer,their cigarettes and sex-----there are a lot of little knee biters being toted around, The school system will have classrooms filled for many years .And mentioning beer---Guinness is the beer of choice. The Guinness distillery takes up many blocks in central Dublin. The first night of Rob's conference there was a social hour with free food and beverages. I thought, "What the heck." so I ordered a VERY small glass of Guinness. Well, you either get a water glass or a pint sooooo as the bartender poured the beer he explained that you fill the glass 3/4 full, let the foam settle, then fill the rest of the glass. Well, let me tell you it was STRONG! Rob and I each took a sip (when in Rome) and that was it. EVERYWHERE we go people are chugging Guinness. Maybe one develops a taste, but they would go broke if they depended on the Easterlings.
Tomorrow we take to the road - renting a car and driving to SW Ireland. Until then, ...
Susie and Rob
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