A 10:55 PM 5/4/99 +0100, [log in to unmask] a écrit :
>If the statistics are suppressed then we are cut off from learning what may
>be important knowledge.
>
>If we are talking about police statistics, then they can, as you point out,
>expose systematic discrimination.
>
>But they can also provide evidence in other ways - such as police recording
>procedures and how these are related to the managerial policies followed by
>the police at the time, they can give evidence relating to police behavour
>because this is likely to be influenced by the statistics they produce, and
>of course they can be compared with other statistics both those produced by
>the police and by other sources, so making possible to indentify the stage
>(stopping, arresting, charging, detaining, bailing/non-bailing, etc) where
>discrimination seems to be strong and where it seems to be absent).
>
>The general message is that police statistics, like other statistics, are
>organisation products, and if we suppress them we don't learn how the
>organisation works.
>
>So I'm very suprised to learn that the Canadians suppress information of
>this kind. Thought that Statistics Canada were world leaders!
>
>Ray Thomas, Social Sciences, Open University
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>Tel: 01908-679081 Fax: 01908-550401
>Post: 35 Passmore, Milton Keynes MK6 3DY
>**********************************
Okay, but are we open to the possibility that in some cases, the frequency
of certain behaviors simply varies from group to group? Do we reject any
line of inquiry that might lead to such a conclusion? Consider the
following: At the University of Toronto, a few years ago, an investigation
was launched into possible systematic discrimination against "Asian"
students in the enforcement of regulations against cheating. The evidence
for such discrimination, we were told, was that Asians were
disproportionately involved in disciplinary procedings for academic
dishonesty. The possibility that factors other than discrimination might
account for this state of affairs had apparently been ruled out a priori -
although I can easily think of two: that more Asian students cheat, or that
they aren't as good at it.*
If more Asian students cheat, this could be due to enormous familial
pressures put upon them, or that they put upon themselves, for which
appropriate interventions could be designed. Perhaps there is some
relationship between this phenomenon and their elevated suicide rate.
Something helpful could be done. But this bloody pee-cee mentality makes it
impossible to rationally examine the question.
We must be open to a recognition that groups behave differently if we are
to do anything constructive about many of the problems experienced by those
groups. We cannot eliminate a possible finding of group behavior
differences out-of-hand; it is neither good science nor, in the long run,
helpful to dogmatically blame the host society for all troubles experienced
by minority groups members.
David Klein
*The second alternative implies that they be offered lessons in effective
cheating.
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