It's not that the authority of statistics is lost on me. What I don't trust is the reporting of statistical information without transparent access to the data a

It's not that the authority of statistics is lost on me. What I don't trust is the reporting of statistical information without transparent access to the data and actual published results from knowledgeable statisticians. I think the solution is to push calculus off the K-12 agenda and up to the college/university level and replace it with probability and statistics instead. Most people understand averages, but they have no clue what standard deviation is. In fact (sad to say) many software developers don't even know what SD is! Until the general public are able to understand the power of numbers and their pragmatic use, people who know how to manipulate the masses will continue to do so.