[geeks] OLPCs for sale...

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Nov 19, 2007, at 2:38 AM, wa2egp at att.net wrote:

>> The other one that I remember was talking about the removal of the
>> concept of winning, or at least she was a speaker at the meeting.   
>> She
>> might have been a hired mouth, but clearly the rest of them approved
>> of what she said.
>>
>> When were they not crazy?
>
> Maybe the book was revisionist history.

It was, after they finished with it.

Before it was an accurate description of the republic.
>>>> So... citing averages is a valid counter to that kind of argument.
>>>
>>> Bull.  This has been hashed over before and it's gotten to the point
>>> of being ridculous.  Homey don't play dat.
>>
>> No, it isn't bull, you just don't agree with it.
>
> No, It is bull because there are many different ways of representing
> numbers by an average.

...which is irrelevant to my point.

I'm just talking about the NEA being self contradictory.  Citing their  
own data against them is perfectly valid.  It doesn't mean I do or  
don't with their data, just that they can't seem to make up their mind  
what they want to say.

> The comment about those teachers being the highest paid in the nation
> I don't think was accurate.

We'll never know unless we see the raw data.

Locally teachers were saying they were low paid and showed data to  
prove it.  The problem is they selectively culled the data and were  
lying about it.

The teachers took the data set, and included all teacher and student  
aids, most of which made under $10K/year, counting them as if they  
were professional teachers.  They also included part-time workers and  
counted their pay as if it were full time as well.

By contrast they removed all data for police and fire cadets,  
engineering apprentices, and similar positions from other  
professions.  This drastically lowered the apparent average for  
teachers.

Only professionals should have been counted of course.  Interestingly,  
a lot of the engineering apprentices don't get paid at all for their  
internships.  Including them, the engineers could easily claim to be  
among the lowest paid, which is generally not true.

The averaging game can be played both ways.

Exactly which way depends on which dishonest group publishes the  
numbers.

-- 
"Where some they sell their dreams for small desires."