Freakonomics LC Letter (parts 1 & 2)

PART 1

For the first part of Freakonomics they talked about Sumo Wrestlers and Teachers and how each of them are alike. Although they both seem like completely different topics both of the strategies they use are very similar. In the book they use cheating as similarities between the two. They say that teachers may cheat to help their students on exams or SAT's while Sumo Wrestlers cheat to help others in the ranking.

It starts with an Israeli day care center where they do a test on the parents about late pick-ups of children. What i did not understand is in the book they only chose one day care center and so the data did not really prove anything because it had no other evidence besides that one day care center. The data from the one day care center showed that parents would pay a small fee to pick their kids up late rather than picking them up on time.

The next part of the book was about the school teachers. It said how school teachers will cheat for their class in a numerous amount of ways to make themselves look good as teachers. When teachers do this it affects the students next year which in turn makes next years teacher look worse because of the insufficient teachings of the teacher who cheated. This also helps people figure out who the cheaters are. Cheaters are more easily found when there are patterns in the cheating.

After they explained the cheating with payments of Israeli parents and the cheating of school teachers they went to the Sumo Wrestlers. The book explained how Sumo Wrestlers have fifteen matches and if they win at least eight out of the fifteen matches then they are considered upper-class wrestlers. The cheating part of Sumo Wrestling is in such occasions as when a 7-7 Sumo wrestler faces a 8-6 wrestler. The 8-6 wrestler will usually throw the match so the 7-7 can become an upper class wrestler.

In the first part of Freakonomics it mainly talked about cheating and ways to cheat. Sumo Wrestlers do an honor system, teachers do it for themselves, and the Israeli parents that were tested did it for the money. There were also a couple of other examples that were not as big.

PART 2

For the first part of Freakonomics they talked about the Klu Klux Klan and Real Estate agents and how each of them are alike. This section of the book started with the Klu Klux Klan. It explained how they started off as a group of people that went around in sheets and pillow cases and would do harmless pranks to people. Soon after the Klan started it turned into pranks that were more dangerous. Then after the more dangerous pranks came around they were then directed at certain groups of people.

When they talked about the Real Estate agents they talked about how they chose to sell a house and who too. Depending on age, race, etc. the Real Estate agents would act differently and would offer different areas according to the way the person presented themselves. I found that disturbing because just if a person presents their self in one way does not mean they are that way. If you get what i am saying.

In the book Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (i love how they have the same first name) pick the most bizarre topics to debate about but in the end the way they use evidence to prove their comparisons is very good. So far the book has been a pleasure to read and i have some things i would like to discuss with my group because i would like to hear their opinion on these topics.