Section 3 — The Truth
Session 10 of 16
Thursday, July 2, 2026
Numbers in the news
Statistics are everywhere in the news — and they are frequently misused, misunderstood, or weaponized. A percentage can tell the truth or lie, depending on what it's compared to. In this session you'll develop the tools to evaluate any number you see in a news story, and to use numbers confidently and accurately yourself when discussing current events.
Vocabulary for this session
statisticspollsample sizemargin of errorcorrelationcausationdatapercentagebenchmarkcherry-picking
Grammar focus
Grammar focus: Comparative structures with numbers — "X% more than", "twice as likely to", "a threefold increase", "down from a peak of", "compared with the same period last year". How English expresses numerical comparisons — and how those comparisons can mislead when the baseline is hidden or manipulated.
Come prepared to discuss
"'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.' Do you agree? Can statistics ever tell the truth?"
Before this session
Prepare: Find a news article that uses statistics. Are the numbers presented clearly? Do you know what they're being compared to? Bring your example to class.
Task-Based Activity
Spot the Misleading Statistic. Prepare 5 real-world examples of statistics used misleadingly in news (e.g., "crime rose 100%" when it went from 1 case to 2; "9 out of 10 dentists recommend..." without sample size). Students work in groups to identify what's wrong with each one. Debrief: What information would you need to evaluate each statistic honestly?
Career-Oriented Take — How to Frame It
Data literacy is one of the most sought-after skills in the modern workplace. The ability to read a chart, evaluate a study, and ask the right questions about a statistic — without being a statistician — is increasingly expected at every level. This session gives you the core critical vocabulary for doing exactly that.
Big Picture
Mark Twain's famous line about statistics points to a real problem: numbers carry an air of objectivity that words do not, making them particularly powerful tools for manipulation. In the era of "data journalism", the ability to interrogate numbers — to ask about sample sizes, baselines, definitions, and methodologies — is a form of media literacy as important as understanding language.
Current Events Take
Take a statistic currently in the news — an economic figure, a poll result, a health statistic. Walk through the critical questions together as a class: Who collected this data? What is the sample size? What is being compared? What is the margin of error? Is correlation being confused with causation? What does this number actually tell us?
Homework (assign after session)
Find a news article that uses at least three statistics. For each one, write: (1) what the statistic claims, (2) what information you'd need to verify it, (3) whether the article provides that information. What is your overall assessment of the article's use of data?