I may be a bit biased, but I believe our Excelsior quantitative courses are critical to our students. I found this article about an interview with Dr. Rebecca Goldin, Director of STATS and professor at George Mason University, about the importance of quantitative literacy:
You argue that statistical literacy gives citizens a kind of power. What do you mean?
What I mean is that if we don’t have the ability to process quantitative information, we can often make decisions that are more based on our beliefs and our fears than based on reality. On an individual level, if we have the ability to think quantitatively, we can make better decisions about our own health, about our own choices with regard to risk, about our own lifestyles. It’s very empowering to not be scared or bullied into doing things one way or another.
On a collective level, the impact of being educated in general is huge. Think about what democracy would be if most of us couldn’t read. We aspire to a literate society because it allows for public engagement, and I think this is also true for quantitative literacy. The more we can get people to understand how to view the world in a quantitative way, the more successful we can be at getting past biases and beliefs and prejudices. (Bleicher, 2017)
