It is important to learn statistics during one’s college career. At the University, however, many students may be dissuaded from registering for the Introduction to Statistics class due to its perception as a weed-out course for potential McIntire applicants. For this reason, the University should establish a statistics class specifically for Commerce students and offer another introductory class for all non-Commerce students who are still interested in the subject.
The Introduction to Statistics class at the University has a reputation for being extremely difficult, particularly for an introductory class. On the website The Course Forum, where students at the University rate their experiences in different courses, STAT 2120, the introductory course, has inspired an overall rating of just over two out of five. Student commenters have also stated the class is difficult because it is the weed-out course for the Commerce school and that other students should not enroll in the course unless they absolutely have to.
Making a change to the program of study in the Statistics department is important because taking a statistics class is an educational opportunity college students should not miss. Dr. Jessica Johnson even went so far as to refer to statistics in a USA Today article as “the most useful class of [her] college career.”
Johnson goes on to explain that every college student should make the biggest possible effort to take a statistics class. She writes, “It’s likely that statistics will prove an asset for any student pursuing any career. For example, statistical science is used in business to make all types of decisions, such as whether to pursue a strategic acquisition or to enter a new market. Advertisers and marketers rely on it more and more to decide which customers to target. Technology companies use it to make smarter software applications. Even philanthropic organizations are using data analysis to decide which projects to fund and how to rate their success.”
Statistics classes not only make students more competitive job applicants but also teach them skills they can use for a multitude of careers, according to Johnson. Based on this assessment, many students at the University are missing out by not taking at least an introductory statistics course.
Creating a separate statistics course for Commerce students would help to eliminate the stigma associated with Introduction to Statistics. Separating Introduction to Statistics from the Commerce school would encourage more students to register for what could be the most important class they take at the University.
Additionally, creating a statistics class just for commerce and pre-commerce majors would ultimately be a more efficient way for the University to teach the subject because pre-commerce students could learn statistics with a business focus. They could learn examples in class that would be suited specifically to business, to give students a deeper knowledge of their field of interest and prepare them to apply the subject in their future careers.
For students who are not Commerce majors, the University could continue to offer a broad introduction to the subject, similar to what is available to students now. This would give students who are undecided on their program of study the opportunity to learn statistics from a broad perspective that could suit any field they may decide to enter.
The University already offers a similarly program-specific class, Introduction to Biostatistics, which teaches statistics through the lens of biology and medicine. Many medical school programs require knowledge of statistics and the University recently made Introduction to Biostatistics a requirement for all biology majors. A business focused introductory class would benefit students in the same positive way that a biology focused statistics class does, because more program-related specificity can only help students.
Offering a specific statistics class for Commerce majors would benefit both Commerce and non-Commerce majors, by ultimately creating a better and more efficiently educated student body, which would also benefit the University in the long run.
Carly Mulvihill is a Viewpoint writer.
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