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Numbers are often used to persuade rather than inform, statistical literacy needs to be improved, and so surely we need more statistics courses in schools and universities? Well, yes, but this should not mean more of the same. After years of researching and teaching statistical methods, I am not alone in concluding that the way in which we teach statistics can be counterproductive, with an overemphasis on mathematical foundations through probability theory, long lists of tests and formulae to apply, and toy problems involving, say, calculating the standard deviation of the weights of cod. The American Statistical Association's Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (2016) strongly recommended changing the pedagogy of statistics into one based on problemsolving, real-world examples, and with an emphasis on communication.

The census has been used for hundreds of years to determine how many U.S. House members each state will have, and it currently helps determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending is divvied up. "The risk that really troubles me is that there's a big undercount and then there's a big lack of representation," said John Thompson, who was director of the U.S. Census Bureau until he resigned last year (the bureau is still without a director).