Facts alone are never enough. Facts rarely if ever have any soul.

In writing or trying to understand

history one may have all manner of 'data,' and miss the point. One can have all the facts and miss the
truth. It can be like the old piano teacher's lament to her student, 'I hear all the notes, but I hear no
music.

Tell us about a time you had all of the facts but missed the meaning.


The point that we seek to understand serenades at fathoms so deep that the facts may appear to be
somewhat pigments - mere figures on the surface of the whole truth, and as the great Alexander Pope
said a little leaning can be a dangerous thing; drink deep or taste not the Perian spring so only by
going beyond facts can one understand the main point and purpose. As a mathematical individual at the
intermediate level aspiring to reach a certain level of expertise, I am constantly thrown between the
intervals of knowledge relating to new concepts.
In my junior year, if I recall correctly, was the first time I experienced what it felt like to miss the
main point from a mathematical perspective. It was the first time learning about the basic statistical
principles- simple calculations used to determine the mean, mode, median, inter-quartile range and
form cumulative frequency curves- that may be applied to any data set. Having this new knowledge I
readily tried to transcribe meaning and purpose without any consultation with my teacher, I assumed
that this cumulative frequency curve was used to help determined how grades are assigned to students
who sat C.X.C. examinations.
Now, I was ready to confound my teacher with this finding, to have made the link, with what we have
learnt with what the teachers have not yet taught, just filled me with pride. After the inculcation of my
conclusion he smiled and said in a condescending manner No dear child, what you have here is not
what is used to determine how grades are assigned but by coincidence may seem to be an alternate
method. so I asked if this is not then what is the correct method and he then said the bell curve
and let me say tis something beyond you. After a wee pat on the shoulder, he went back to his office.
The chagrin I felt just bulldozed the haughtiness that had filled me.
Only two years after had I learnt about the bell curve principle since that moment of humiliation and I
now know why an eighty percent today might be a grade A today but might not be an A tomorrow. One
might even believe that the main point was learning how to apply statistical principles but the main
point was simply A little learning can be a dangerous thing