Bobby Porter, a minister and director of student development at Layton Christian Academy who chairs Minorities for Vouchers.What a concept, that number claiming to be the average cost of tutition should include al of the tutions in the state. of course, people like Porter were the same ones who used the "average" trick the other way to make Bush's tax cuts seem pro-middle class (when in fac thte vast majority of the benefits skewed to the wealthiest few). There is no secret that he chery picked data to get closer to the top end of the voucher. Paying $1,500 out of pocket for school sounds reasonable, $5,000 sounds as unattainable for working class folks as it is.
Porter's group estimates the average tuition for Utah private schools is about $4,500, a figure far lower than the roughly $8,000 quoted by the anti-voucher group Utahns for Public Schools. He said his number excludes Utah's most expensive private schools because they skewed the number much higher. Voucher opponents say an average should include all schools.
He said a few thousand dollars would go a long way toward helping make private education affordable to minority students, who as groups often lag behind their white peers in terms of academic performance.
The voucher law, if it passes in a November referendum, would give most interested Utah students $500 to $3,000 toward private school tuition, depending on income.
Oh and Porter fails to address the fact that NCAAP says vouchers will lead to seggregation, or at least did in the past. I just hope he isn't teaching those kids math.
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4 comments:
You have obviously never taken a Statistical Analysis Course or you would understand that there are three kinds of “AVERAGES” the MEAN, MEDIAN, and MODE.
Therefore Mr. Porter has shown his superior intellect in selecting the most commonly used statistic in the educated world. LOOK IT UP. You may learn something.
Therefore the "MEDIAN AVERAGE" so to speak would probably be around $4,000.
Of course I know about and the difference between the mean median and mode, I learned that in grade school.
The point is, the most common meaning of the word "average" is the mathematical mean, not the median or the mode. It is deceptive to say the average is $4,000 when the average guy on the street is thinking of the different definition of average than Porter is using ON PURPOSE.
Bush used the word average in its most common sense but also was deceptive. That is what I was trying to say.
If anybody has a firm grasp on the real fiscal impact of the bill, I'd appreciate an explanation. I've seen so many different figures put forth -- each bigger in "savings" than the last -- that my brain has turned that whole line of inquiry off. Any help?
http://accountabilityfirst.blogspot.com/
Another problem with the $4000 figure is that many of the schools included in the analysis are parochial schools supported by churches. These schools provide cheap tuition to members of the church which runs the school but their tuition is substantially higher for non-members.
Any bets on whether or not the good reverend is using the lower amounts instead of what a typical Utahn would have to pay at these parochial schools when calculating his $4000 figure?
Sorry...the argument that a voucher makes private school a real choice for Utahns is falacious. There just isn't any way that the typical family qualifying for the $3,000 voucher is going to have the time or financial resources to use it.
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