On Mon, 19 Mar 2001, Patrick Cabe wrote:
> As chair of our campus Faculty Senate, it falls my lot to "say a few words" at
> commencement this spring. I've been thinking that it might be nice to talk about
> some of the correlates of obtaining a college education. I'm hoping the collective
> wisdom of TIPS subscribers can help me.
>
> It's well known that college educated individuals, on average, make more money
> than non-college educated individuals.
>
> But what about the relationships between college education and other elements of
> adult life? For example: divorce rates, mental health, physical health, longevity,
> criminal convictions, delinquency among their children, etc., etc., etc.?
>
> Open to any ideas or suggestions. My task is to fill about 5 pithy minutes of the
> program.
>
How about the ability to think critically? For example, to not
fall into the trap of concluding that because college educated
individuals make more money than those who do not attend college,
that attending college causes one to become wealthier (or
healthier, or wise).
I know, I know, Pat didn't say that. But the effect of noting
such a correlation on the audience, including a college-educated
one, is to have them immediately jump to the conclusion that it's
causal.
I see this technique in quite a few papers. Slip in a disclaimer
somewhere that you recognize the limitations of correlational
data, and then blithely go ahead and imply that it's all causal.
Might be something of a downer to point this out at commencement,
'though.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
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