AP Statistics is a course at John Jay High School that will not be offered next year. This fact is unfortunately true because not enough students selected AP Stat in this year’s course selection. Hopefully after next year the course will once again be offered.

We are 95% confident that the population proportion of students that have thought about taking AP Statistics at John Jay will lie between .43 and .49. This interval would reject the null hypothesis of an equivalent hypothesis stating that the population proportion is equal to .5.

This is the conclusion of what is known in statistics as a one population proportion confidence interval (the above conclusion is only an example, it is not based on true data). Its beauty is that it allows us to place numerical values on colloquial terms such as ‘confident;’ from these values we can come to conclusions that are ‘validated’ by numerical foundations.

Through learning statistics we can arrive at conclusions which are refutable not by theory, but only other statistics. Numbers don’t lie, right? They don’t, but they most certainly are malleable. As Mark Twain said, “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable”. But who is Mark Twain, a literary genius, to talk about mathematics? Justification, or proof, is what makes something a fact; perhaps the most widespread form of justification is statistics. Twain may be correct in saying that statistics are pliable, but he is incorrect in distinguishing fact from statistics on the grounds that fact is more reliable. Facts are made from the statistics that support them. In the beginning of this paper the fact that AP Stat is not going to be offered next year is presented; it is supported by the statistic that too few students were enrolled to take the course. Statistics are the ultimate form of argumentation because while they are concrete evidence, they can elicit different facts about the same subject; different data and types of analysis lead to different interpretations.  

In addition to learning many ways to interpret and present data, AP Stat teaches probability, something that stumps many students on the SAT and ACT. Moreover, the course is calculator intensive and hence teaches students how to use many of the otherwise unknown, extremely helpful features of a graphing calculator.

One would say that it is no problem that AP Stat will not be offered next year because Probability and Statistics, a half-year course which will be offered, covers the same material. The reality is that half a year is simply not enough time to effectively teach statistics. In AP Stat, projects accompany what is learned and let students put newly attained techniques into practice, as do true statisticians. In the half year course, there would be no space for projects and not enough time to teach the amount of content taught in AP Stat.

The major deterrent to students considering AP Stat, and why it is not being offered next year, is the invalid rumor that it is extremely difficult to get a good grade in. It is a difficult class, but an A is certainly attainable in it. You get out what you put in. Tests are usually difficult, but in the end are balanced out by project grades and many bonus opportunities. Also, Mr.Cann, the AP Stat teacher, is an expert in the field and is exceptionally resourceful to students who are willing to participate in his class.

Lastly, AP Stat is a class that students should take because it teaches information that is applicable to real life and helps transform the way one interprets the validity of  things that surround us. Would-be student Carter Lombardi put it best, “I wanted to take AP Stat because I thought it would teach useful things I would use in the future.”

It’s a shame that AP Statistics will not be offered next year. Any class of 2017 students who desired to take the course during senior year now do not have the option to. “I’m disappointed I can’t take the class,” says Lombardi (currently a junior). In future years, if enough students show interest, there will be no disappointed would-be students and this course will enlighten many.