"Junk" Science LO21623

John Zavacki (jzavacki@greenapple.com)
Fri, 14 May 1999 05:23:49 -0400

Replying to LO21585 --

T.J. Elliott says, in part:

> I was reminded of the writing of Robert Kegan in 'Over Our Heads' who
> maintains that there are different orders of thinking requiring the
> ability -- as they rise -- to see things progressively more
> abstractly, as alternatively related and unrelated (I am grossly
> oversimplifying). Your observation was to me echoic. But Kegan is
> not so sanguine about the
> ability to 'teach' this higher order; he finds it missing in
> about half the adult population. He also sees it as developmental and
> only naturally occurring in small increments. Thought you'd enjoy the
> parallel theme.

Proponents of W.E. Deming (a group in which I claim membership) would
smile at the fifty percent figure. Dr. Deming believed that in all
systems, including education and government, fifty percent of behaviors
are below the mean and fifty percent above. That, of course, is one of
the characteristics of the normal distribution, a descriptive statistic,
not a probablistic one.

John

-- 

"John Zavacki" <jzavacki@greenapple.com>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>