Comments for The Thinking Teacher

Comment on The Fraser Institute And School Rankings by mr.m

mr.m — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:55:40 +0000

In reply to Bonita Hoppen. Thanks Bonita!

Comment on The Fraser Institute And School Rankings by mr.m

mr.m — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:54:47 +0000

In reply to Ken Naumann. Thanks for taking the time to contribute Ken. Well said!

Comment on The Fraser Institute And School Rankings by Ken Naumann

Ken Naumann — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:38:04 +0000

Hello Mark,
I agree with all your observations and comments. The greater public would be better served if the government stopped subsidizing those citizens with enough money to withdraw from their own communities and utilize private schools. The Fraser Institute seems to do a good job of publicizing itself because its constant presence in the media is not justified by the terrible quality of its ‘studies’. These studies are wonderful examples of bad science; no matter what the data, they always arrive at the same conclusion, and many readers may miss the authors’ apparent ignorance of the most basic assumptions and use of statistical analysis. For example, the numbered ranking of schools with small differences in measured parameters is misleading because those differences are not likely to be statistically significant. As you pointed out, comparing different populations (pre-selected private school students vs. everyone accepted public school students), and assuming that they are identical going into any sort of testing is invalid. Any student of a first statistics course would know that, which might make a cynic wonder about the quality of education received by the authors of such reports.
The polarization created by the Fraser Institute reports, i.e., private schools vs. public ones, is a false divide. In the end, the quality of a teacher in the classroom, and the level of support at home, is likely to have more to do with the success of a student than the amount of money being diverted to the education-for-profit industry. There are amazing and not-so-amazing teachers in both systems.

Ken

Comment on The Fraser Institute And School Rankings by Bonita Hoppen

Bonita Hoppen — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 02:30:14 +0000

Hello Mark,

Very nicely put…I’m glad you’re still advocating for public education. Please forward your article to the Sun.

Regards,
Bonita

Comment on The Power of Placebo (Follow-Up) by Bernie Garrett

Bernie Garrett — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 00:04:30 +0000

Good examples. At the end of the day because all medical conditions have some amount of neuro-endocrine control the placebo effect comes in to play virtually everywhere. What does not tend to change with placebo is effect size however, which tends to be about the same, apart from in those cases who were a) misdiagnosed, or b) spontaneously resolving.

The placebo effect is a fascinating subject, and you can only really account for it with repeat studies, and large samples. Of course, you are absolutely right, if someone gets better after receiving a placebo, they will tell everyone how well it worked for them. This is why a lot of alternative medicine remains popular.

Additionally, I recently heard an assistant in the pet store advising a customer that the homeopathic pet remedies worked wonders for her dog. In reality, you may as well save your money and give your pet water (which is actually what you are doing anyway).

So interestingly it seems the placebo effect can be vicariously transferred. I.e. if you expect someone else (or even an animal) to get better after a placebo some will. So the placebo effect may also have an influence there ( due to misdiagnosis, regression to the mean, and spontaneous resolution). Some experiments aimed at testing that would be very interesting!

Cheers
Bernie

Comment on The Power of Placebo by Bernie Garrett

Bernie Garrett — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 23:47:11 +0000

Interesting! Although logically you are assuming the neurologically mediated response in experiment A would give the improved results with each additional placebo intervention in the in the back pain study, but be the same for all the placebo interventions in the infection in experiment B. What we tend to find in real world clinical trials is that in experiment A the number of placebos does not necessarily increase the improving effect, and even in experiment B, with less neurologically mediated problems placebo may still raise the rate of improvement.

Cheers
Bernie

Comment on Metro Vancouver Transit Referendum (Group 2) by Sue Seward

Sue Seward — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 16:00:10 +0000

In reply to Peter McLaren.

Dear Peter,
I agree, there are multiple ways that transit could be funded. Voting “yes” did not exclude exploiting other funding options, such as relying on developers. I really like your suggestion.

Your other comment highlights a serious issue that is, really, a red herring to the controversy about the improvement of transit: the integrity of the management of Translink.

Our frustration with the management does not erase the need for addressing the quality and availability of public transit.

Do not throw out the baby with the bath water – upgrade the bathwater! There is no reason why we cannot expect people working with Translink be subject to proper corporate evaluation, recommendations for upgrading of performance, the adoption of those recommendations, and, if not adopted, employment is terminated. Much of our concern for the mismanagement of finances relates to unwritten expectations of integrity and ethical behaviours. Why can’t we demand that these be addressed, regardless of the vote outcome? Please don’t tell me that voting “no” means that the management of transit stays the same.

Voting “no” because of current management practices is self-punishment for the poor behaviour of others. I have seen restriction happen, repeatedly, in larger organizations because of the fear of addressing individual or system-wide dysfunction.

Restricting the growth of transit because of the poor behaviour of others is an irrational decision based on feeling helpless in the face of dysfunction. There are ways of dealing with mismanaged organizations but it requires courage and the desire to not be driven by fear.

Comment on It’s A Mean, Mean, Mean World. Really? by Doug Smith

Doug Smith — Sat, 23 May 2015 01:14:37 +0000

I haven’t read much on terrorism, but perhaps it uses the guise of political activism for leaders to exercise personal control, power and maybe even wealth. In this sense, terrorism absolutely works.

Comment on The Secret To Success by mr.m

mr.m — Sun, 10 May 2015 18:56:32 +0000

In reply to Jason Fernando. Thanks Jason. Great to hear from you and nice recovery there.

Comment on The Secret To Success by mr.m

mr.m — Sun, 10 May 2015 18:54:48 +0000

In reply to Catherine Eberle. What a nice comment. Thanks Catherine.