Correlation vs Causation
One of the toughest things for beginning Stats courses to teach is the idea that: Correlation does NOT mean Causation What does that mean? Just because two things are often found in common, does NOT mean that one caused the other. A prime example is religion. Families that raise kids who succeed often are regular church goers. However, going to church, by itself, is NOT necessarily connected with successful kids. That distinction is not shown in this article. Even the religious gap between the rich and the poor—traditionally rather narrow—is widening. These days, Mr. Putnam laments, ‘poor families are generally less involved in religious communities than affluent families,’ which is unfortunate, he notes, given that churchgoing is associated with better performance in school, less drinking and drug use, and less delinquency. In my early teaching career, I taught at a VERY tough school in Cleveland. In one of my classes, there was a kid who was gang-connected (both by his own...