Comments on: Losing credibility with one quick answer

By: waltcrawford

waltcrawford — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:48:26 +0000

Getting people–even well-educated people–to think about what they’re hearing or reading is frequently difficult. I don’t claim to be any better in this regard. What’s sad: I’ve seen lots of folks equate skepticism with cynicism and think that being skeptical is somehow destructive.

I’m thinking about writing a longish essay about [public] libraries and the significance of “average,” and part of me almost thinks that a book-length discussion of what “facts” and numbers do and don’t mean, aimed at librarians, might be worthwhile. Or it might be ignored.

By: Angel

Angel — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:38:43 +0000

The sad thing is a lot of people will not even ask the question, let alone do some of the homework you did to get at the right answer. This made me think because now in my work much of the teaching we do emphasizes relevance to the students. One way we do this is to teach some “real world” examples, and I think your situation makes a good one right there. What if some “expert” says X on Oprah, or NPR, or PBS or wherever, how do you know it’s true/accurate?

I am glad you held on to that steering wheel.

Best, and keep on blogging.