The Dangers of Statistical Illiteracy

I stumbled up on this article at Aeon a few days ago and it explains and justifies something I have felt for a long time, statistical illiteracy is incredibly dangerous. Those that are statistically illiterate often do not realize how much of a disadvantage they are at and proceed with their lives as though they are not missing a critical piece of information. In turn they can be manipulated and readily taken advantage of.

This is no individuals fault either, it is a massive failing of our education system. Much like reading, no one should get a high school diploma without a basic understanding of statistics and yet, at least when I was in high school, statistics and probability was not a required course, it was not even a course most “upper-track” kids took. Whole generations of people have been set up to be taken advantage of and because they “didn’t learn it in school,” “aren’t good with numbers,” “are too busy to do learn or do research,” etc., are unwilling to admit the critical disadvantage and more often do not even realize they are at one.