Data Driven Voices

Still from first ever Bugs Bunny cartoon

The issue of what a student should do once in college has, at long last, been getting some great voices. This trend is most welcome.

Given the interest in this topic (the previous entry from Mark Edmundson has proven to be one of the most shared and read on this blog what are you doing here ), I wanted to share another great resource. The site, freakonomics, is the brainchild of one of the authors of the book that launched a thousand texts. (Of course, this sentence is a poetic simplification. But I would defend it if I could also add the work of Malcolm Gladwell to the mix too. His essays, especially those which appeared in the New Yorker and then in subsequent books, changed everything about what the guys who supposedly knew (experts) about what would sell.) And for those of you who have not read these authors, you should.

Still from film "Freakonomics"

They approach the decisions we make from data driven perspectives and come up with surprising, shocking, and simply unthought-of of perspectives.  What we thought we knew, we find out we didn’t and in most case still don’t (see Gladwell's article on the faulty methodology behind the US News Rankings). In essence, they take traditional theory or common sense notions, like rational theory in economics, and turn them on their head.

Simplified Hegelian Dialectic from DuffyMusic.com

A Hegelian move, no doubt, but also a way of demonstrating that humans are predictable, but predictable in their irrationality.  If this phrase sounds familiar, it should be. The book, Predictably Irrational, was the initial foray into this genre of books by Dan Ariely. He is doing impressive research at the wonderfully named Center For Advanced Hindsight at Duke. He often uses his students, to help demonstrate the way we make decisions follows patterns, but patterns that not only deceive others, but ourselves as well.

The success great success of these authors and books has then led book editors to see the value of publishing books on research, which has direct implications on our lives.  I would go far as to say that the book freakonomics is, in essence, proof of its own thesis. Sales of this book have moved the book trade to bring in a whole new stable of authors and topics.  It was certainly not predictable, and yet it does underscore how our minds are still searching for ways that will allow us to make decisions that will bring us greater opportunities for flourishing.

And these books have permitted people doing cutting edge research to communicate directly with a mass audience. With blogs and daily additions to research driven data, mostly coming from the west coast, people are getting educated on how little we know about others and ourselves.

The discussion on the linked page contains some great advice. If I were to pick one passage, however, to hold up as critical to people interested in education at US colleges and Universities it is the following:

We have found that too many students were more strategic and calculating about getting into college than they are about getting out.  It is almost as if they have been programmed to believe that the most important part of college is the name on the degree.  We agree that is important, but for most students what makes or breaks the college experience is the choices they make after they have picked their alma mater.  The students who really get the best out of college are those who navigate wisely the bewildering puzzle of decisions they will face from the moment they sign their commitment letter until the time they receive their diploma. 

 I would go far as to say that indeed they are correct when they use the word “programmed”. The emphasis on rankings of schools at the front end has been the focus for most over the past generation since the US News launched its shot heard round the world. If it is not yet true, I think it will be soon, that there will be more rankings on the blogosphere than there are colleges and universities.

Unfortunately, precious little assessment of what schools do to transform students during  four years is publicly accessible.   A few books have been published, but the news they give is anything but good. Too many students leave not much better off than when they came in.  Obviously, this is not data that schools want to give out, so it will be very difficult for people to do useful assessments of schools using anything the schools themselves will willingly give out. 

But the authors I have mentioned, and a legion of others now following in their steps, are up to the task of getting information in innovative ways and using it well. I expect that in the near term, the pressure will mount for schools to become more accountable for their “product,’ to use the market term. And at least from where I sit, I hope that this is the case.