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OTHER EDITORS SAY - V . K.
WRAU-TV VIEWPOINT ■ . A
Statistical Academic Nonsense
in statistical
ow it can be
used to mislead the people, may
be gleaned from a spate of curi
ously similar editorials which
have suddenly appeared in a
good many of the state’s larger
daily
newspapers in recent
weeks. It smacks of a sort of
petty conspiracy; yet it is a de
grading and dangerus one. It
has an unmistakable political
taint; but its real victim — in
the end — may well be the
schools of North Carolina.
The editors am operating be
hind a self-assigned facade of no
bility. Their pious pretense is
that they are demanding better
education for the young people
of the state. What they are really
doing is using the schools, and
the teachers and administrators
who operate them, as pawns in
a smearing, sneering numbers
game.
The school people of this
state deserve better than this.
Certainly they do not deserve
back-handed suggestions that
education in North Carolina has
not made great strides towards
excellence — much less'statisti
cal misrepresentations to the ef
fect that the people of this state
have not made great sacrifices
to build a school system of which
they can be proud. No barrage
of irrelevant, odious compari
sons should mislead the people
of North Carolina into being
ashamed of their achievements.
One hardly knows where to
begin in beating back the brush
fire of statistical nonsense pour
ing forth from the newspapers’
editorial pages. So it costs the
taxpayers of New York vastly
more, per student, to. operate
public schools than ia the case
in North Carolina! So what?
What the editors don’t compare
is the cost of living in New York
as opposed to that in North
C a r o li n a. Of the cost of
land for school sites in New
York. Or the cost of construc
tion there.
A school teacher in New York
often pays as much each month
for a place to park her car as
a teacher in North Carolina
spends on groceries. If the news
papers want to get into an hon
eat set of comparisons, let’s have
some on the cost of living, the
cost of doing business, the cost
of operating schools. Then let’s
see how North Carolina, and
North Carolinians, compare with
New York and New Yonkers in
this business of “sacrifice”.
Other comparisons? Well, Just
for example, part of the “per
student” cost of operating
schools is the interest'that the
state pays on borrowed money
used for school construction.
The Statistical Abstract of the
United States, published by the
U. S. Department of Commerce,
reveals that in 1964, New York
State paid-$90 million in interest,
on money it had borrowed for
school construction. That same
year, North Carolina pjrid ten
million dollars in interest on her
school debi.That $80 million dif
ference alone raises New York’s
“per pupil” cost by $40 per year!
We acknowledge, of course,
that our own comparisons are
themselves largly irrelevant, and
we mention them simply to illus
trate a point. New York simply
cannot be compared to North
Carolina, any more than apples
can be compared with oranges.
The two states are entirely dif
ferent entities, with differing
conditions, differing costs, and
differing economies. And we
may as well say it: What North
Carolinian would trade living
conditions with his counterpart
in New York?
True enough, progress in any
field — education or anything
else — will always be an uphill
climb. We have a long way to
go, and when every person now
alive in both North Carolina and
New York is gone, there will
still be goals to achieve and pro
gress to be made. But that if no
reason forpeUticalfy-motivited
newspaper editors to shame and
degrade those who have worked
so .hard and achieved so much
in our own time.
North Carolina needs to apolo
gize to no one, least of ul to
any newspaper editor, for what
has been done in the' field of
education in our state.,This sta
tion stands second to nobody in
its support for adequate, compen
sation and the most efficient
working conditions for our
teachers. But it is important to
remember that not the least
among the problems being en
"Helping to build a better Livestock
Market (or Eastern North Carolina”
WHAT IS THE ANSWER?
by Henry E. Garrett, Ph.G
Professor Emeritus, Psychology, Colombia Universi
Past President, American Psychological AssecMii
Q: Dr. Garrett, can a parson's
IQ ba changad? I .saw a naws
story that said a young girl's IQ
was ralsad 40 points. How can
that ba? ■ ."t. ■!'
A: Ordinarily, no, a person’s
IQ cannot be increased. Even so,
it is possible through intensive
training to raise a person’s IQ
dured by our school people are
the federal pressures and con
trols undo’ which th$y are being
forced to operate. And it is of
more than passing interest that
federal intervention in our
schools is being applauded, and
even encouraged, by the very
same newspapers that repeated
ly resort to odious comparisons
in falsely implying that educa
tion is going to pot in North
Carolina. J
North Carolinians probably
should chuckle at this statistical
nonsense and then, after con
sidering the source, continue
about the business of building a
finer North Carolina. If the press
is unwilling to help, it should
not be allowed to hurt"
somewhat but the probabilities
are, once training is “broken”,
the IQ will return to “normal”.
It is much as though you took
a normal 14-year-old who could
run 100 yards, say, in 12 sec
onds and trained him until he
could cover thedistance in some
ror on all such tests Is five per
cent, it is quite possible k score
made on one teft would be 10
points higher (or lower) than
that made on a second test
As to those fantastic eleva
tions in IQ; that is poppycock.
Your own IQ will tell yop that,
Bound Over On Rape Charge 1
Eighteen year-old Thomas Sut
ton of La Grange Has been
bound over to superior court af
ter probable cause of'his guilt
was found on a charge pf rape.
1 •
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