Statistical or quantitative thinking as a fundamental intelligence

This article presents an expanded view of statistics both in the topics embodied and in the way people employ it. Statistics is proposed as one of the fundamental human intelligences and, using the verbal intelligence as a model, a quantitative parallel to speaking is introduced. This spoken form of the quantitative language is part of everyone's everyday activities and has been used throughout our lives. Informal statistical principles are described as providing a foundation for the formal statistics traditionally taught and promulgated. Recommendations for beginning a radical change in what we teach are offered.