Bell Curve and Average

If you buy into the concept that there is a social or educational "average" than I think it is important for everyone to be above average. No one likes to believe that they are in the middle of the pack or even behind everyone else.
The term average comes from measuring statistics. The average is the middle for a group of data. I don't think this is something that can be applied to humans. You may be able to measure how a student does on a test compared to other students on that same test. But that is not a measure of the students mental capacity. That is merely a measure of how students did on that specific test.
If I'm being completely honest right now, in terms of education I've been called above average my entire life. In fact, in elementary school I used to be pulled from class to go into a gifted program. Looking back at that I am grateful but also disgusted at the same time. According to the school system, I was deemed exceptional and was given an opportunity for higher learning at a young age. This was a huge advantage for me but was not offered for every student. This program was only for kids "above average." But can the school systems really determine who is average? Maybe other students just learned at different rates. Maybe they had other teachers that didn't prepare them as well. That didn't mean I was smarter than them. On the flip side, I think it gave me an ego. I think I started to slack from that point. I realized I was ahead of other students test score wise so I didn't try as hard. I think this measuring and comparison is a great discredit to the school system. School should be about growth and development. There is no "average" if every student learns. Thats the purpose of school. To get the most out of each student. Sorting students only hurts those that the schools think aren't above average. And with that attitude, according to the schools, they may never be.

The Bell Curve

"In this essay, Lynn Fendler and Irfan Muzaffar argue that the existing critiques of bell-curve thinking ring true for people who believe that the purpose of schooling is to promote a more equitable redistribution of resources in society; however, these arguments do not criticize the law-like character assumed for a bell curve as a representation of social reality." Here the writer points out that the bell-curve has its purpose for equally redistributing resources; however, they believe it is not an accurate representation of social reality.


"In this essay, we do not assume that schools are necessarily institutionsof reproduction, although we do acknowledge that reproduction is one of many things that can happen in schools."  The writer says that schools can often reproduce this curve, but it is not something that people should just assume.


"to undermine the allegedly realist basis for sorting, namely, the assumption that a bell-curve distribution is normal" The writer is agreeing with others that the bell-curve is not an accurate description of the distribution of "normal" in society.