9486 in the collection
Janitors' Nightmare: Study Says Chewing Gum Increases TAKS Scores
Gerald W. Bracey Comment:
Say, Thompson, couldn't you have found a more lucrative way to sell out? Or do I underestimate the dinero Wrigley visits upon its shils?
The article includes a sly allusion to the possibility of Marion Nestle's possible relationship to Nestle foods. I am quite certain that, given her CV and publication history, if there is a connection, she has long since been disinherited.
Technical queries: Were the students in the school randomly assigned to the chew and not chew groups? Do we know that the "not chew" group really kept their mouths free of polysobutylene? Would we expect similar results from black, white, or Asian students (God! What an unlimited horizon for future research!)? Given a sample size of 108 students, is a "three percent" improvement on TAKS--which has a substantial ceiling effect--statistically significant? Does the three percent better score translate into any better rate of passing the stupid test? Will the gum chewers get better jobs (probably not if they pop bubbles during interviews).
Yours in farce and phoniness
Ohanian Comment: Not surprisingly, the Wrigley Science Institute touts itself as the first organization of its kind committed to advancing and sharing scientific research that explores the benefits of chewing gum.
Executive Director Gilbert A. Leveille, Ph.D., "leads a global advisory panel of highly respected, independent experts, including researchers from the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and China, who are helping guide the pursuit of fundamental science behind the benefits of chewing."
Before forming his own company, Leveille held what his bio calls "several relevant positions"--including vice president of Research and Technical Services at Nabisco Foods Group and director of Nutritional and Health Sciences for General Foods Corp.
The trademark motto at the Wrigley Science Institute is Gum is Good!
Fundamental science.
By John Nova Lomax
Let there be jubilation in the halls of junior high schools across the land! A crack Baylor College of Medicine research team has found that chewing gum in class improves TAKS math scores.
The study centered on 108 math students, aged 13-16, at a low-income, predominantly Hispanic Houston charter school. After 14 weeks of study, the researchers concluded that the half that chewed gum (sugar-free, in the study) during homework and tests fared three percent better on their math TAKS than those that went about their tasks slack-jawed.
But before you load up Junior's backpack with a week's supply of Bubblicious, know this: This totally legitimate, above board in every way, utterly scientific beyond a shadow of a doubt study was funded by Wrigley.
Which troubles nutritionist Marion Nestle, Ph.D, a nutritionist and the author of What to Eat. "The only reason to do these studies is to sell more gum," she told CNN.com. "Sponsored studies almost invariably produce results favorable to the economic interests of the sponsor. [They] are always designed in ways that fail to control for alternative explanations for the results."
(The paranoid among you have no doubt noted that the nutritionist is named Nestle, and thus shares the name of a Swiss mega-confectionary that is a rival to Wrigley's parent company Mars. So yeah, she would say that...)
We tried to put those concerns to Craig Johnston, the leader of the Wrigley-funded Baylor team, but we were told he couldn't get back to us today. Should there anything more to chew over bubble up in this juicy little fruit of a story, we'll be on it before you can say "hubba bubba."
— John Nova Lomax with comment by Gerald Bracey
Edumacation
2009-04-23
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/04/taks_bubble_gum.php
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
