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| You see, I�m afraid Larry didn�t have a response.
None. Let me repeat, since some readers may have trouble believing what they're reading: there was no response from Larry Abeiter. My specific question had been whether Chicago was practicing discrimination because it doesn�t grade on the Gaussian curve. Also called the �normal� curve, the Gaussian curve is the only way to avoid grade inflation when dispensing grades. And it happens I�m a distant relative of a certain Karl Gauss who died in 1855. Who was Gauss? Well, he helped invent the telegraph and to pave the way for the Theory of Relativity. He�s regarded as the third-greatest mathematician in history. He may also be described as �the father of modern statistics,� and the Gaussian curve has therefore been named in his honor. Larry, who I believe was a physics major at Chicago, has studied the Gaussian curve and he should know also that it�s the correct way to pass out grades. Indeed, the Gaussian curve is taught in colleges and universities all over the globe. But what�s the point of learning about the Gaussian curve (or anything else) if one isn�t going to make use of that knowledge? Thorstein Veblen had some funny, sarcastic remarks about higher education that might be inserted at this point, but I need to keep this short. So let�s get back to the normal curve. The Dysfunctional Elite, by its very nature, is opposed to any performance evaluation. That would include evaluations using the normal curve and other appropriate mathematical techniques. That�s because, were the Dysfunctional Elite, itself, to be evaluated on the basis of performance, said elite would be tossed out on the street. But in addition to pressures imposed by the Dysfunctional Elite, there are other reasons why the normal curve hasn�t been used as much as it should be. One problem might be described as how to popularize or how to apply an abstraction. How does one make use of something that�s mathematically valid, but hard for the average non-mathematician to understand? For some years now I�ve been giving thought to those and other issues involving Gauss�s work. Two specific �normal performance curves �� are the fruits of my mental labor, one curve for schools and the other for business. Both should be reasonably easy to understand and to use. The curve for schools is shown at left. I will try to post explanatory comments at a later date. The reader may be thinking that I�m lazy. Shouldn�t there be more fruits to my mental labors than just those two curves? But Karl Gauss advised, in one of his aphorisms, �few but ripe.� To read more about Gauss�s life, scientific work, and general outlook, click here. I stand ready to work with my friends at Chicago, at other educational institutions, and with my friends in the business world on �normal performance curves �.� More careful measurement of the performance of students and of employees could bring many benefits. As noted, today's discrimination definitely has a different social fa�ade than in the past. Glancing behind that fa�ade, one may find oneself asking new questions. Could we say, for example, that NBA teams discriminate? It would seem to most people that the NBA doesn�t discriminate. It certainly doesn't discriminate in the sense of not being willing to hire any black players. But meaningful performance evaluation may be lacking. It happens there�s a way, also linked to Karl Gauss, of measuring the contribution made by individual NBA players to total games won by their team. It can show which palyers are team players and which are trying only to enhance their individual statistics. I was lucky enough to be able to give Gauss's work a partial test a number of years ago. I started with the Indiana Pacers. It worked as it should, and I�ve approached the Indiana Pacers and the Chicago Bulls about it, as well as the NBA organization. While my efforts influenced the Pacers and, recently, the NBA itself to adopt team play statistiscs of a sort, they are using a rough method, which isn't correct mathematically and has many disadvantages. It's still fair to say of the Pacers and the Bulls that they discriminate against those players who help achieve what is the team�s stated mission�i.e., winning of basketball games. And they have discriminated against me, since team play statistics were adopted as a result of my efforts. Although the NBA's has a large cash flow, not a penny has ever been diverted in my direction, As mentioned, I started with this basketball effort quite a number of years aso. It was only in February 2007 that I learned of an interesting coincidence. It seems that: (1) a Mr. James S. Crown is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago; (2) He's also President of a company that is part owner of the Bulls. Certain derisive remarks about the Bulls were written before I found out about Mr. Crown's ownership, but I think I can let them stand. It seems that Bulls management just wants to put on a sham-athletic show, a third-rate circus, with what might be described as a bunch of goofy, scantily-clad Uncle Toms. They run and prance around the court. It's an unconvincing effort to simulate an athletic contest. And I say �Uncle Toms� because it seems the players are content to feign a sporting contest rather than to really compete. They could, if they wished, both compete more effectively as an NBA team and also aid the cause of equal opportunities for blacks. --After all, the entire educational establishment is, to a degree, connected. For that reason, the grade inflation plague spreads from Harvard and Chicago to the prep schools that feed Harvard and Chicago. It continues to spread and eventually reaches all the way to the grade schools of Chicago and other cities. This could be corrected by using the mathematically correct numbers on the basketball courts and in the classrooms. It's sad to think about. When a black child in a Chicago neighborhood idolizes, a Bulls player, little does that child know that the player, the child's role model in a world that may be often hostile, is really nothing more than an Uncle Tom. . . . An Uncle Tom. Of course, the Bulls may change their thinking tommorrow. Let's hope they will. Click to conclude this article |
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| Hollywood made a comic movie about me in 1983 called Doctor Detroit. It was set in Chicago. It's a long shot, but perhaps I could now interest Hollywood in a new film about a fictional professional basketball team based in Chicago. Possible title: The Windy City Dribblers. |
| (below) ". . . it�s quite fair to say that the Bulls discriminate." |
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| Click --to view at a higher magnification. This sketch isn't perfectly realized as a drawing, and is meant only to convey the basic idea. |