Bruce Jenket: Cognitive bias, ignoring contradictory data is human nature

To The Daily Sun,

In my last letter, I mentioned “cognitive bias” as a reason why school board members, teachers and parents ignore that less than half of Moultonborough students are proficient in math and science. Here are a couple of examples that deserve mention.

School board member Patrick Hart submitted this letter: tinyurl.com/3xu6847r, “Moultonborough Academy remains an accredited public high school” in response to another contributor’s claim it “failed” it’s New England Association of Schools and Colleges audit. Patrick correctly stated that Moultonborough remains an accredited school but omitted the fact that Moultonborough received a grade of “does not meet” in “learning culture”, “student learning” and “professional practices”. See page 11 of the report: tinyurl.com/3r76p7uy. The full report documents Moultonborough mediocre performance.

Another school board member, Eric Bernow, submitted this letter: tinyurl.com/mrybvks5. Eric pointed out that I used state goals as opposed to state averages in my letter. I apologized. But he then goes on to say that 47% proficiency in math and 40% proficiency in science “represents the dedication and hard work of our teachers and students.” Huh? In which universe does less than 50% student proficiency constitute “excellence”?

Patrick and Eric are the chair and vice chair of the Moultonborough School Board. Their job is to ensure two things. First, that every student is proficient in English, math and science. Second, to ensure that is done cost effectively. In 2024, Moultonborough was the sixth highest “cost per student” out of 185 school districts in NH: tinyurl.com/y4j7u7kj.

The data indicates they fail at both responsibilities, yet they were reelected by a large margin. Voters wanted to believe students were getting an “excellent” education. So, they consciously employed “cognitive bias” to ignore data that contradicted their belief. It’s human nature. And it’s more prevalent in some, more so than others.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough