A Survey of the Teaching of Statistics in M.B.A. Programs

A survey of business schools was conducted to obtain information about the current state of the teaching of business statistics to students enrolled in M.B.A. degree programs. The survey was undertaken for and presented at a June 1986 conference on “Making Statistics More Effective in Schools of Business,” held at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. Information was elicited concerning both the required statistics sequence and elective statistics courses for M.B.A. students, as well as computer usage in these courses. This article summarizes the information obtained from the survey.     

A Question of Ethics

This article identifies three consulting roles—helper, leader, and colleague; recommends that statistical consultants ask more questions about basic mechanisms; suggests that statistical consultants regard their primary responsibility as providing guidance about the scientific method itself; discusses the need for continuing education to help improve consulting skills; and describes Wisconsin's Master's degree examination, which was designed to help students become effective practicing statisticians.     

Bill Cochran: His Contributions to Medicine and Public Health and Some Personal Recollections

There is a tremendous need in our technological society to train statisticians for all sectors of education, government, and industry. Because statistical training has largely been restricted to graduate schools, the profession is losing many good students to other fields of study. Members of the statistics community are encouraged to reach out to high-school students and undergraduate students to increase the awareness of statistics as a scientific field of study and as a professional career. The ASA Council of Chapters has recently completed a slide presentation entitled “Statistical Science: The Profession,” which was professionally developed to aid this endeavor. In addition, high-school teachers, high-school counselors, and professors of mathematics and science education are identified as important audiences for hearing this message and for broadening general public awareness of what our profession has to offer.     

Statistics for Quality and Productivity: A New Graduate-Level Statistics Course

The growing popular realization that American product quality and productivity are no longer without challenge for world leadership presents an opportunity for the American statistical community to make stronger contributions to sound industrial practice than it has in the past. Management consultants, such as Deming and Juran, are promoting philosophies that contain strong statistical components and are being heard by top U.S. executives. There are thus growing opportunities for industrial statisticians. Upon reviewing the content of typical graduate-level statistical quality control courses and books in the light of the present situation, we find them to be inadequate and in some cases to suffer from inappropriate emphases. In this article we discuss our perceptions of what is needed in the way of a new graduate-level course in statistics for quality and productivity (SQP). We further offer for discussion a syllabus for such a course (which is a modification of one used at Iowa State in the 1983 spring semester), some comments on how specific topics might be approached, and also a partially annotated list of references for material that we believe belongs in a modern SQP course.     

‘Trapped between two worlds’ – Muslim Palestinian women from Israel in Jordanian universities: new identity and the price it demands

Interviews were held with 12 Muslim Palestinian women from Israel, presently studying in Jordan (6) or who had completed their higher education in Jordan (6). They explained the factors that pushed or pulled them to study in Jordan, the independence that they experienced there, the empowerment they achieved, and the price they paid when they returned to Arab society in Israel. The Arab cultural space in Jordan is defined as both foreign and close, due to its geographical and cultural proximity, and yet its distance from home and patriarchal supervision. The research findings indicate that this situation influences the formation of these women's gender identity and their empowerment but also creates much pain and conflict. The Palestinian women's new identity, formed during their studies, assists them in their efforts to reintegrate and establish their status when they return from their academic studies abroad to their society of origin, Muslim Arab society in Israel.     

Personal identity versus national identity among Hong Kong youths – personal and social education reform after reunification

This paper examines the use of Chinese traditions for the formation of a felt Hong Kong identity and a national identity among students in the personal and social education curriculum before and after reunification with China in 1997. This paper argues that the addition of China elements to the curriculum after reunification contributes to the continuous ambiguous identity of students, which is consistent with the results of various poll surveys about the civic identity of Hong Kong people in a larger context. This is because the personal and social education reform after reunification assumed a simple correlation between the patriotic feelings of students and their knowledge of China. It does not question how the promotion of an intensely unifying ‘cultural identity’ as political commitment is differentiated from the day-to-day ‘cultural experiences’ of students.     

高等教育投资回报率估算：基于西部三个城市的微观数据

本文基于中国西部三个城市,7949个住户的微观数据,利用内生的处理效应模型测算了城市家庭20-35岁青年的高等教育投资回报率。经验研究的结果显示：1. 现阶段青年人的高等教育投资内部报酬率大致在7%左右;按照30年工作时间计算的收入增加现值大约在8万元上下,高等教育使得月收入期望值平均增加80%。高等教育还能够使青年就业的可能性增加8%左右;2. 从性别的视角观察,高等教育对于女性的回报率高于男性,女青年内部报酬率大约在8.3%（男青年7.6%）;就业概率增加15.9%（男青年4%）,每月工资期望值增加122%（男青年67.5%）;3. 如果高等教育的全部花费增加到平均6万元,则从单纯的现金流意义上说,高等教育没有增加收入的价值了。     

论我国高等教育运行机制的过渡与转换

本文认为,我国现阶段的高教运行机制正处于过渡与转换的初始阶段,机制转换的完成需要经历一个较长的过渡时期.为了顺利平稳地完成机制转换,必须构建相应的过渡性目标模式,以此作为从适应产品经济到适应有计划的商品经济的高教运行机制模式转换的中介。因此,今后—个时期高教改革的基本思路就不应只朝一个方向努力,而应以国家职能转变为契机,在国家、社会和学校三方面同时展开,并辅之于教育市场的不断培育和竞争机制的逐步加强。     

大学生厌学现象新探

高校实行扩招以来,我国的高等教育发展很快,大学生在校人数迅速增加,我国的高等教育正处于前所未有的发展势头。但是,高校扩招带来的一个负效应,就是当前在大学生中存在着严重的厌学流行病,它正在严重地影响着高等学校的教学质量,甚至直接影响着我国高素质人才的培养。因此,深刻认识当代大学生厌学现象的严重性和危害性,客观分析当代大学生厌学的种种新诱因,提出解决当代大学生厌学的新对策是当务之急。     

高校“课程思政”研究与实践的四维综述

全国思想政治工作会议以来,理论界对高校“课程思政”的关注度不断提升,并进行了广泛深入的探索,拓展了高校课程 育人的理论与实践研究。对近年来高校“课程思政”的相关文献进行了较为系统的梳理,认为高校“课程思政”已经从注重“思 政课程”建设转变为凸显“课程育人”体系的协同创新,主要从认识论角度分析“课程思政”的内涵本质,从价值论角度阐明“课 程思政”的价值意蕴,从实践论的角度探讨“课程思政”的特色实践,从系统论的角度梳理“课程思政”的多维理路,以期为推进 高校“课程思政”改革提供理论依据和经验借鉴。