Monday, September 13, 2010

Wanting to be average.

Mike Rose comments in his essay "I Just Wanna Be Average" that many students in the "vocational track" in high school take refuge in a commitment to "being average," like Ken Harvey, in his example. According to him, why does the vocational track breed mediocrity in students and squelch any desire in them to become remarkable? Or do you disagree with Rose's assessment?

27 comments:

  1. Average is the pressure than every teenager experiences, and some struggle in their attempts to achieve it, while some master it seemingly without effort. In terms of schooling, "average" doesn't mean very much. In many high schools, a C is defined as "average" so the goal of many students is thus to earn a C in that class. In other words, what's defined as "average" is taken by students to mean "good enough," and satisfy any attempts of real effort and success by taking refuge in the belief that you're at least as good as everyone else.

    Just ask Zelos from Tales of Symphonia.

    "All I want is a fun, easy life. That's it. Nothin' more, nothin' less." (cue fight to the death)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rose is correct in the case of every school age teen that simply wishes to finish their schooling. It does not take an idiot to know that being in the top 10+% of their class means more will be expected of them. Rose understands that any student who wishes to fulfill the expectations of them will take the easiest way out. And in current secondary schools, being around the median (or at least closer to the average) allows students to get by with little or no work. Allowing students the opportunity to compare themselves to their peers is also another point that secondary students use to be "better" by their own comparison. If a student feels that they are "better" than their peers, most students will begin to lower personal expectations, as they are already "better than their competition. Students who set their own personal goals to state, "I will be better than I was yesterday," are those who excel and become exponentially more successful than the average student who will allow themselves to base the successful cut-off line to a line set by their peers.

    Enough rambling about point of success. I believe Rose is correct because of how the secondary school system compares students.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Being "good enough" is a major problem in today's society. There isnt' very much inclination to be the best you can be anymore, because of the educational and vocational tracks Rose explained. The apathy and lack of work ethic in our modern era is so pervasive throughout our lives that it effects everything we do.

    People only do what they feel is satisfactory, and not necessarily great or even good. It's a problem because if you're given a job, you should do it to the best of your abilities, not to just "get the job done." Having personal experience with working in industry, having a plant team do "enough to get by" is a terrifying thought.

    We need more people that go above and beyond, otherwise we'll turn into a society of stagnant progress.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The pull of average is all around us. It is an aspect of the idealized American family. Every one should have 2.5 kids, a dog, and a white picket fence. In many schools, at all levels- not only in the vocational track-, mediocrity is instilled into everyone. Even in the richer schools the students have already learned not to want to be the person who makes a difference. They learn to want to live comfortably as a lawyer or banker, to be lazy. It is a universal and is instilled into people from childhood. Consequently Rose is wrong. This mediocrity, is not only instilled through the vocational track, but through life as well.
    No matter what the message is "don't dream to big." There is actually a push for everyone to be mediocre (just the push is for the richer kids to in richer mediocre positions, and the poorer in poorer).

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Dude nobody has work ethic like you're talking about because those people realize you only live once and stressing out over things that ultimately don't matter is a waste of time and effort.

    (protip: unless you're a multi-billionaire/profoundly genius/a major political figure/etc the vast majority of things you do in life don't matter)

    There are over six billion people alive today, the concept that any layperson will make a significant difference in anything by exerting more effort in their occupation is simply inane.
    Being "good enough" is a nice area to aim for because it means you're not a drain on society while also not overworking yourself for things that, once again, ultimately don't matter! Someone will always pick up where you left off and the waves of time will eventually erode away or make obsolete everything you do in life so enjoy it while you've got it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Many students feel that average is a good thing, the less you stand out the less you are ridiculed or disliked. I believe that striving to become average is something that as Americans we almost aspire to be. We try to "keep up with Jones'" but we never try to out do the Jones', to become better than the everyday person. In school students are not taught how to think, they are taught how to learn, and how to remember information. The schools do not teach students to become independent thinkers so they don't develop a drive to become better and learn more. Because learning is a "process" it is very grueling, it's not made to be fun or interesting, which deters people from wanting to learn more, to become better. This makes us inept to theory based ideas, because we no longer think independently and logically ideas that are not factual are hard to grasp.
    Trying to become not average would most likely be impossible seeming to someone who can't grasp conceptual ideas and only is able to memorize information. This would greatly deter someone from wanting to become more than just average, because it would make it seem overly difficult or even impossible to reach a new level of inelegance and become better than average.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Butthorn makes a good point in saying that someone will always pick up where you left off. Still, does that mean that being average should just be accepted? Absolutely not. You're more than welcome to just roll on by and do what you need to in order to sustain yourself. However, just because the education track may 'breed' mediocrity doesnt mean we are all of the same breed. In some ways I imagine we already are a culture of stagnant processes. But that doesnt mean that the drive to excel has to be thrown away by everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  9. TheWolfKing as a species we are not stagnant at all, quite the opposite in fact. We are living in exponential times. Here's a good collection of statistics in an easy to watch youtube video! Enjoy:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUMf7FWGdCw

    The sources for the information in the video can be found here:

    http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2006/08/did-you-know.html

    Considering that all first world countries use an education system at like reminiscent of the US system I think it's safe to say we haven't stagnated due to school.

    ReplyDelete
  10. One statement that Rose makes that stands out strongly to me is that "students will float to the mark you set". When kids are put in the vocational track, they are predisposed to believe that they are not as good as the other students. In this case, it is understandable for some students to simply stop trying because they know that they can get away with it.

    However, there should still be some level of satisfaction that students get in doing well in school. Although some have presented arguments saying that this does not and can not exist in our school system, I have to disagree. There are, of course, factors such as great teachers and parents in my favor, but I never thought that my education was lacking. Although the right teachers do help, people also need to have the motivation and drive as human beings that will also help them be good students, even in spite of a bad school system.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I agree with Rose I think it's apparent that students vocationally placed in average classes will give an average performance and meet their average expectations, in an average fashion of course. But why wouldn't they? I mean, really, they are surrounded by average students who also aspire to be no more than average so where is the inspiration and sense of competitiveness? It's a no-brainer.

    Now, at the same time, there is something to be said about the faculty of perfectionism. It revolves around striving for the impossible. A lot of people think it's pointless, because the impossible cannot be obtained. However, if you've ever taken a basic Tae Kwon Do class as a child or seen any Kung Fu movies you'd know that when breaking boards ("karate chop!") you should never aim to break the boards, but instead always aim to hit the floor. The reason behind this mentality is so that you don't actually stop at the boards, you break THROUGH them. The same concept applies to perfectionism. If instead of aiming "high" or even "as high as possible" and everyone aimed HIGHER than possible, no one would be mentally limited by the notion of their "average" or less-than-perfect expectations. Everyone would fall into place where their true potential would carry them. Then there would be no need for vocational placement into the "average" category because the NATURALLY average would fall there while the naturally above-average would fall into THEIR category, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Here O.prime let me sum up everything you said in one sentence: "Average people are average, non-average people aren't!" If everyone aimed to be their best there would still be average class placements and vocational courses (what if someone is their best at automotive repair but horrible at mathematics?) so I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Are you not understanding what a vocational course is?

    I mean, sure, a student could be misplaced into a vocational course and in that situation it's plausible they'd development a tendency of mediocrity but ideally their potential would be realized by the instructor before this happens and they'd be placed into a different course but that doesn't always happen. Some people belong in a vocational course, some people don't. Some people want to be in a vocational course, some people don't.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think often times that kids in a track such as the vocational track feel as if they have been labeled sub-par, or deficient in some way because they do not perform as well as other students in the classroom setting. Instead of being encouraged and challenged in their own area of strength they feel as if they have failed the very fundamental purpose of being a student and they are left to slowly progress through their lower studies as the other students continue on with the curriculum. This squelches any desire to be exceptional.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Man is right. Students in the vocational track are seen as "not good enough" for college and "will not succeed" in anything resembling higher education. They understand this along with their teachers, and while each try to ignore it the teachers don't teach all they can because "the students won't get it" and the students won't seek to improve themselves because they say "I don't care, I'm no good anyway, right?" Essentially, the vocational track creates students who don't care because they see the system as having been made for "incapable students", and thus go to that level; not only to please the system and their less-intelligent friends and peers but because it is all the school asks of them in order to get out. They do the work, and only the work required to leave the school everyday. An interesting parrallel to this is the workplace, where many will do the work from 9-5, and then go home regardless of the state of the job.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I believe that most teenagers will just desire to just "get through" their schooling due to a lack o f motivation that is caused by simply not knowing the true reason of why their are learning the material that is being taught to them. In my opinion, if teachers could take a few minutes to explain real world applications of the subject that is being taught, these unmotivated students will find themselves a bit less confused now that they see a point, albeit a small one, in why they are learning "stuff they dont care about"

    ReplyDelete
  16. Students only do work according to the expectations of the school. When kids are placed in voc ed, they don't have to rise very far to meet the bar.
    I think this is true for many students, but I also know of students who can't or won't meet even the lowest standards. No great teacher or class motivates them to move. Which brings us back to the point (addressed in class a few weeks ago) that school isn't for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Students on the vocational path want to be average, because average is the easiest place to be at before you start tumbling down the left half of the bell curve, into “idiot” territory. Well, what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with not knowing how to factor out “x” from an exponential equation? Why do you need to know literary analysis? If it doesn’t make you happy, knowledge is useless. So we have a group of people, who don’t know math or English or science, but they also know that they will be looked down on if they don’t at least get their GED. So they strive for the bare minimum they can get away with in a system which is both valued to society, and pointless to them.

    Vocational education doesn’t make students care less about education—they are in the classes because they already don’t care about education. Even if vocational education reinforces their ideas of mediocrity, this by no means closes their options to them—any student can go to college if they choose education at a later date. And if they don’t, what’s wrong with that? We still need car mechanics, and blacksmiths, and janitors, and construction workers, and many other jobs which do not require a college degree.

    ReplyDelete
  18. One consideration that must be made is that tracking occurs both voluntarily and involuntarily. In some systems, a test determines where a student will land on the educational hierarchy. In others, students willfulluy opt for a vocational curriculum. The common factor, however, is that both tend towards catering to pupils who wish only to be "average."

    In the first case, the desire to be "average" is a defense mechanism; it wards off thoughts of inadequacy simply by displacing the the grim idea with a somewhat more tolerable one. In the second case, the desire to be "average" is probably something that the student bore with them into the program. In that case the vocational track serves as the defense mechanism; It allows them to hide from the fear of being proven inadequate in more difficult courses and provides them with a refuge from greater responsibility.

    Both situations are, of course, tragedies. In each case, students who could have excelled outside of the vocational track have been crippled. Either by mandatory placement, or their own insecurities.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I agree with Rose, but only because I have no experience with groups that encourage mediocrity. Rose presents a believable story that says the vocational track essentially drills the concept that average is okay into the minds of the students, so he could be right. In my experience, my friends and I were encouraged to excel in school, and we did because we felt like that was what we could and should accomplish, we did excel. Maybe the same concept of "you strive towards the expectations of others" applies to everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I totally agree with the quote that Zero Xo2 said that "you strive towards the expectations of others." That is true in all aspects of life, but especially in academics. I agree with Rose that the vocational track system almost encourages kids to be average. If you don't have to work harder, if you're not expected to be brilliant, if people treat you like you don't know anything, why would you even bother to try? It is so frustrating to think you can do something, only to be told you won't be able to accomplish it. If school systems encouraged kids on the vocational track to strive for their best, Rose's argument would be irrelevant.

    ReplyDelete
  21. While I agree to a point that the vocational courses may tend to breed mediocrity in students, if the student has a strong desire to achieve, then I do not think that vocational classes are going to dampen that spirit. If the student is determined enough to strive forward, then they will probably do so and move out of the vocational classes. If the student has the mindset that they just want to be average, then they are most likly going to stay that way. It all depends on the ambitions of the student.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Its clear that educational systems (read: public schools) not only encourage mediocrity, but demand it. Sure, students can take AP classes and cherish their GPA's, but throughout a student's educational career he or she is constantly being taught how to be average.

    This strive to be average is a result of years of mundane exercises, mediocre rewards, and lack of enthusiasm from both educational staff and students.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I don't know if what I have to say is merely repeating above comments, or if it is truly by itself, but I will say it anyway. The students become normal, "average", and lose all desire to become exceptional because being normal is completely adequate. students tend to like to do the bare minimum that they can. If being normal is enough to get through life without putting in extra work, then they won't have any motivation to be more.

    ReplyDelete
  24. According to Rose, the vocational track causes mediocrity becasue the students in such a place are told that they will never amount to anything else. I agree with the belief. Students in such a place will not try to become anything better because no one else believes that they can. they are told they are average. They develop refuge in staying average. Not too many dare to venture or try to get out.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I agree with Rose because, in regards to most teachers I’ve met, the lower levels of education do not breed creativity or critical thinking. Teachers often assign busy work or are very strict in the structure of their class. Students are given “academic bulimia” type assignments in which they simply absorb and regurgitate facts. With such a structured and uninspiring environment, it is not difficult to agree that children cannot grow and aspire to anything. If all the school system requires is mediocrity, what is a student’s incentive to go beyond that?

    ReplyDelete
  26. The vocational track breeds mediocrity in students because of the students lack of drive and the the under qualified teachers that teach the classes.The teachers show no interest in the class and the students do not have a desire to excel. Students will "float to the mark you set" and if that mark is not high the results will be low. The vocational track already shows a student that they are considered under par, but it also does not challenge the student.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The vocational track breeds mediocrity in students because there is not enough "education" in education. The students lack a drive to succeed which may be blamed on the effortless teachers that are supposed to teach them and allow them to gain knowledge. In turn, some students may not feel the urge to set high goals for success. The vocational track does not provide an adequate challenge or rigorous curriculum that test the students abilities and knowledge which may provide the means for a successful motivated student body.

    ReplyDelete