Sep 21 2012: Financial literacy (as in, understanding different types of investments), and a “big picture” understanding of statistics (as opposed to simply calculating variances and standard deviations, which are just numbers). Both subjects are important to everyday decisions, and if you can’t figure out how they are, then that is a clear sign that you simply don’t understand either of them. Incidentally, I actually learned the most about these two subjects on my own after I got my graduate degree, by self learning from books at the library, and by buying some video courses from “The Great Courses” website. Even though I studied statistics in high school and college, I think that what I learned in school only confused me more than it helped me. School usually teaches you only how to calculate numbers, not how to interpret or apply your results.
Sep 21 2012: Financial literacy (as in, understanding different types of investments), and a “big picture” understanding of statistics (as opposed to simply calculating variances and standard deviations, which are just numbers). Both subjects are important to everyday decisions, and if you can’t figure out how they are, then that is a clear sign that you simply don’t understand either of them. Incidentally, I actually learned the most about these two subjects on my own after I got my graduate degree, by self learning from books at the library, and by buying some video courses from “The Great Courses” website. Even though I studied statistics in high school and college, I think that what I learned in school only confused me more than it helped me. School usually teaches you only how to calculate numbers, not how to interpret or apply your results.
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A comment on Conversation: What was not taught in school that you realize, REALLY should have been? (Why?)
A comment on Conversation: What was not taught in school that you realize, REALLY should have been? (Why?)