Episode 93: The Merit of Statistics

State of the Theory

This is Episode 93 of the State of the Theory Podcast. Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably. In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call. This week we welcome friend of the pod Dr Tom Clemens for a discussion about the recent controversy surrounding the statistical adjustment of school-leaving grades for Scottish students. We think about the use of statistics, and the way concepts like ‘fairness’ and ‘credibility’ when it comes to education rely on replicating, rather than challenging, forms of structural inequality. State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick (@drhfitz) and Anindya Raychaudhuri (@DrAnindyaR) Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stateofthetheorypodcast) or Tweet us @TheoryDoctors