In fact, statistics is a discipline of its own that uses math as a tool to help us gain a deeper understanding of other contexts that matter to us, such as science, social policy, finances, and health. Therefore, although it requires certain mathematical and quantitative reasoning skills that could be taught in a math class, it also requires integration into other content areas to develop full “statistical literacy.” For adults to be statistically literate, they need to be able to ask questions about the world, consider different contexts and how data is available in each, and to interpret results based on appropriate methodology and background knowledge.

Many of our most pressing and sensitive social issues involve long-term accretions of cause, such as racism and climate change. We cannot compellingly demonstrate the existence of systemic injustice with any one incident, as other factors could have been at play. We cannot convincingly argue that any one storm or season of odd weather is evidence of climate change. However, statistics allow us to validate these realities, to a high degree of certainty, when long-term patterns of data show trends that cannot be explained by chance. While emotion and personal stories certainly play a big role in how people approach these topics, greater statistical literacy could help more Americans understand why researchers are so convinced that these issues are real and require collective action.

In a prison environment there’s no classroom internet connection, so I either downloaded materials at work or emailed it from my home to work, and then copied to a flash drive to place materials on the laptop I used in the classroom. This included video, audio, image, and document files.

internet security icon by Smashicons at Flaticon

by Toni Hager

Another issue I had when I first started working in the jail was just realizing that our students are in jail. Some are here for unspeakable charges or will be facing a lot of time in a facility upstate. Some of my students are unstable and have severe anger and mental health issues. As an educator at a jail, I needed to learn to take my own views on some of these charges and almost throw them out the window. I need to keep an open mind and teach the students and not treat them differently based on their crime. I constantly remind myself that I am their teacher, not their judge. I always have a calm demeanor and treat them with respect. Even though they are in jail, they are still human.

However, the biggest struggle I have is how to get students who are facing a lot of time or life in prison to buy into our education program. Our jail is one of the few that requires inmates to go to school regardless of if they are sentenced or not; as long as they do not have their high school degree or equivalent, they are mandated to come to school. I have had many students say, “I am facing a lot of time; what do I need my HiSET for? I am not going to be able to use it.” I also get, “I am just going to go back and do the same thing I was doing before,” or, “I have a job that I don’t need my HiSET for.”

I am constantly reiterating the power of knowledge, and how being able to read and write is important for any job or regardless of where you are in life. But because I have a lot of students with negative views, they do the bare minimum in class or don’t participate at all and just want to sit quietly for the whole class or talk to their friends. Therefore, I leave you with this: