Why I Hate The British

Well for starters, I do not think there food is that good, and I think they were quite unkind to my Irish ancestors, but the remnants of the British Empire are causing frustration in my life. Right now. The Ugandans have been brought up to believe that the way the British think is the way all educated people should think. So they have this system of formality and precision in a place that does not need formality and precision. Each day, Ugandan teachers use rulers to draw margins and lines on paper constantly. It makes the work neat, but the amount of time used to draw the lines takes away from real needs. I am currently in my fifth year of teaching in Uganda, and I think this is the third time, I have taught finding the mode and median from grouped data. Let me be brief for you non-math people, let’s say I have attendance at my theatre of 10 people aged 8-13, 22 people aged 14-19, 10 people aged 20-25, 6 people aged 26-31, and 2 people aged 32-37. To find the median ( or middle number) we would try to find where the middle is. In AP Statistics, we would just say the median is between the ages of 14 and 19, and if we wanted to embellish we would say that number is probably closer to 19. Here is the British/Ugandan formula for the same number median = L1 + {(N/2 - Cfb)/(fm)}i where L1 is the LCB of the median class, N is the total cumulative frequency, Cfb is the CF before the median class and fm is the frequency in the middle class. Here is the rub, the N/2 part of the formula is off by 0.5 and even if you calculate this number. Go ahead. The answer is 17.59 which sounds spiffy and all, but there is no way to determine if it is correct. The British have formulaized a way to make a wild ass guess, but it is still a WAG. And don’t get me started on why group data is becoming obsolete with the ability to obtain the whole data set with modern technology. The problem is many Ugandans believe this is the way we should educate our children, and all this complication takes them away from something big. And the combination is now part African and part British which means a school meeting that is supposed to start at 1:30 pm and last for 30 minutes will start at 2:20 pm and last for two hours. And the last 10 speakers at the meeting will all say the words, “I want to make my remarks brief” or “Since this meeting is long, I will only add a few points” of course both of these disclaimers are often prefaces for 10 minute speeches. Thanks British Empire