“The End of Average”
Book Study Companion Questions
Introduction: The Look-Alike Competition:
What’s your initial response to Daniels’ conclusion that “[any] system designed around the average person is doomed to fail”? (p. 8) Why?
In what ways has society’s focus on “averages” impacted you personally?
Which educational movements or approaches seem to focus most on the “average”? Which have moved away from or are seeking to move away from the “average as a yardstick”? (p.10)
In your opinion, are those in education more reliant on the average now than they were, say, ten or twenty years ago? What evidence can you site to support your opinion?
In what ways does your school and/or district rely on the notion of “the average”?
In what ways does your school and/or district currently work to genuinely support individual students’ talent development? Where do you see this working most effectively?
Chapter 1: The Invention of Average
How does Quetelet’s assertion that “[everything] differing from the Average Man’s proportions and condition, would constitute deformity and disease” (p. 29) mirror how traditional approaches to education respond to student differences?
Does current traditional schooling more closely reflect Quetelet’s or Galton’s view of the average? How can you justify your response with specific examples?
How does Galton’s view of average either support or refute myths surrounding giftedness and gifted people?
After reading this chapter, what's your response to educators’ argument that nurturing the gifted will benefit society?
At this point in your reading, do you think it’s possible to do away with society’s focus on the average? Why?
Chapter 2: How Our World Became Standardized
Where do you see the distinction between the “creative craftsman” and the “automaton” (p. 44) most clearly demonstrated in our society? What about in our schools?
How does Taylor’s view of the relationship between managers and workers (p. 46) reflect hierarchies throughout our society? In schools in particular, in what ways are teachers encouraged to take initiative? In what ways are they expected to follow “managers’” orders? Which approach do you think is most effective in terms of student learning? Why?
Should teaching be a standardized profession? Can it be?
What’s your response to H.L. Mencken’s description of the American educational system in 1924 (pp. 51-52)? How does his description jibe with modern schooling in America?
Do you agree with Thorndike’s view that “quality is more important than equality” (p. 53)? Given society at the time, was this view a step in the right direction or the wrong one? How does Thorndike’s notion fit with schooling today?
Do you agree with the author’s assertion that our educational system today is a “well-oiled Taylorist machine” (p. 56)? In what ways do schools today support or defy this notion? In what ways does your district or school in particular support or defy it?
In what ways does our society value individualism? In what ways do our schools value it?
This chapter ends with a question. How might you respond to it before reading further? Why is this question an important one?
Chapter 3: Overthrowing the Average
How can you explain the difference between “aggregate, then analyze” and “analyze, then aggregate” in your own words? (p. 69)
Of the author’s arguments and vignettes presented in the first section of the book (Introduction and first three chapters), which are most convincing in terms of his claim that we need to switch to an “individual-first approach”?
How has your thinking about the role of average in our society changed as you’ve read thus far? How has this reading changed your thinking about our educational system?
How does the focus on the average impact your teaching? In what ways is a focus on the individual reflected in your teaching? What do you think the author would say about your approach to teaching (or the approaches used in your district or school)? Why?
Do you think it’s possible to move away from “the average” in education? Is “the average” needed? Why or why not? In what ways have we already begun to move away from the notion of “the average” in schools?
Chapter 4: Talent is Always Jagged
How does the use of a “single-score rating” at Deloitte (pp. 78-79) resemble grading in our schools? As an educator, what is your response to the fact that “a single-score rating might not capture the true performance of an employee so much as reveal the idiosyncratic tendencies of the person rating that performance”?
How does “stack ranking” (p. 78) occur in schools? What impact do you think this type of ranking has on the learning environment and on student outcomes?
How can you prove or disprove the “jaggedness” of human intelligence?
Is the goal of schooling to “identify and nurture individual excellence” (p. 91)? Should it be?
What are the “one-dimensional blinders” (p. 94) that inhibit the ability to see talent in schools and classrooms?
In what ways do schools currently work to recognize jaggedness and untapped potential in students? Which educational approaches and models enable the recognition of these elements? Why and how?
Chapter 5: Traits are a Myth
To what degree do you agree with the author’s assertion that “traits are a myth”?
Does your own approach to students tend to follow the claims of trait psychologists or situation psychologists?
In what ways are labels based on student traits useful in schools and teaching? In what ways are they harmful? What does a balanced and effective use of labels in schools look like?
Where in schools do you see context impacting student behavior and perceptions of students most vividly? Where do you see proof of the context principle?
How would focusing on the context principle change the way we identify and label students? How might we apply this principle when determining and meeting students’ needs?
Chapter 6: We All Walk the Road Less Traveled
What aspects of traditional schooling support normative thinking (p. 124)? Which educational approaches avoid this type of thinking and how do they do it? How effective would you say these approaches are? Why?
As you think about you and your colleagues, what are the various “pathways” that you’ve taken to meet your goals and/or get where you are today? How do these pathways match each person’s individuality?
Which educational approaches and resources tend to most clearly equate learning speed with ability? As you read pages 130 through135, which of your own teaching practices (or those used predominantly in your district or school) did you reflect on or even begin to question?
Chapter 7: When Businesses Commit to Individuality
What can the business practices highlighted in this chapter tell us about current educational practices? Consider the following areas:
- Professional growth opportunities for teachers
- Teacher pay
- Teacher evaluation
- Teacher tenure
- Grading and assessment
- Student grouping
In schools today, what would an “unwavering commitment” (p. 163) to individuality, for both teachers and students, require in terms of institutional changes?
Chapter 8: Replacing the Average in Higher Education
How would elementary and secondary schooling need to change in order to make the author’s recommended changes to higher education genuinely doable? If these changes to higher education were made, what skills would students need to develop prior to entering higher education in order to be successful there?
Can we and should we replace grades in higher education? What about in elementary schools? Middle schools? High schools?
What are the pros and cons related to focusing on competencies rather than on grades in elementary and secondary schools?
Given the author’s suggestions for alternate pathways on page 177, what concerns do you have about quality control? Are these concerns genuinely valid? How might they be addressed?
Chapter 9: Redefining Opportunity
How does the notion of “equal fit” (pp. 185-189) connect with other ideas about access and opportunity in our society? What about in our schools?
Do you agree with the author that public education is the place to begin implementing equal fit (p. 188)? Why or why not?
If we are to implement a focus on individuality and equal fit in our schools, where and how should we begin?
Concluding task: (can be completed as a group or independently)
1)Create a two-columned chart that shows how your district, school, or classroom focuses on “the average” and on “the individual.”
2)On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rank your district, school, or classroom in terms of its focus on the individual rather than the average (with 1 being no focus on the individual and 10 being no focus on the average)?
3)What statements or generalizations can you now make about your district’s, school’s, or classroom’s approach to supporting individual students?
4)Using your chart, pick one way in which your district, school, or classroom currently focuses on the average rather than on the individual.
5)Now, brainstorm at least 5 approaches to changing that particular focus from the average to the individual. Think big and be creative, as if there are no limits to what can be done.
6)Which of your brainstormed approaches seems most needed, doable, and effective? Why?
7)Create a step-by-step plan to put this approach into action.
NCDPI – AIG Coordinators’ Institute March 1, 2017