How to celebrate the average

-by Dr Shukla Bose

Now that the Board and Pre-University exam results are out, one often sees giant multicoloured billboards outside schools and colleges with the faces of all the students who scored above 90% in the exams. Some schools even put large one-page ads in popular newspapers to attract attention. Not only is it a significant aberration of aesthetics, but it projects a very wrong fundamental message that some educators are trying to change.

We hear great talks on the importance of failure and how it shapes future success. And yet, we celebrate the success of the most conventional kind. We cheer those who have done well, received recognition, and are in the sure lane of future success. We do not celebrate those who are not necessarily the brightest, not privileged with any specific talent but have managed to stay on course through sheer grit and hard work. Because we have never celebrated the average, there is an assumption that they are of no value because we live in a society that places a high value on exceptionalism, success, and standing out from the crowd. This can sometimes lead to a negative perception of being average. People might feel pressure to excel, achieve extraordinary success, or be unique in some way.

In schools, parents compete with each other about their children’s grades. We have schools competing with other schools about their student’s remarkable grades. We have schools that give admission to children who pass the IQ test and can indeed be one of the faces on the billboards in a few years. They will then be recognised as the premium schools that most parents will clamour to get their children into. These much sought-after schools will then have the license to hike their fees, and the saga will continue. I have heard of little children going into depression when they do not get admission to one of these schools. We have never applauded schools that have never discriminated against and taken on children of the average and tried to work hard with them. The average suffers the most and is deprived of the attention they desperately yearn for. They are neither special because they do not have exceptional skills nor are they special because they are differently abled. The average are just the ordinary ones who are neither here nor there.

There is nothing inherently wrong with being average. Being average means being within a range of typical or common behaviours, abilities, or characteristics. Average is a statistical concept that represents the middle point of a distribution. Let us look at some of the marathons in which thousands of people participate. Everyone focuses on the first and the last, the best and the worst runners. And yet, the marathon can never be complete without the majority in between. I think there must be thousands more applause for the majority who stick on and do not quit the race. This story happens in the workplace and life in general. We tend to focus on the high performers and underachievers, but what about the average employee? They are the backbone of any organisation, keeping things running smoothly and making up most of the workforce. We say that a school needs mostly average, disciplined, dependable and caring teachers. Brilliant teachers with flashy credentials are definitely good things to have, but they are not essential for the day-to-day running of the schools. Average children gravitate to caring and trustworthy teachers, but not necessarily the brilliant ones, who may not be permanent because of their legitimate soaring ambitions.

Therefore, the whole approach to success and who can be successful or not needs to change. It has to begin from the home and then the schools. Parents must not pressure their children to compete with other children, be it their neighbours or relatives. They must tell their children stories of those who have achieved laurels and how they reached there. They must share with the children all those stories of very average people worldwide who have been good and happy. Teachers must pay equal attention to the average, not just the above or below-average children. That is the true meaning of being inclusive. Everyone needs to be included in the joy of learning in their own way and at their own pace.

We must celebrate hard work, grit, perseverance, and the process, not just the final results. If teachers and parents try to understand what is going through the child and hold that hand more sensitively without judgment, then the average will be celebrated. The child will never think, “I am good but not good enough.” With a little care, the child will discover his or her uniqueness and will be able to find space and pace that suits him or her to blossom.

I read somewhere that “Average doesn’t mean mediocre. It means you are part of the majority, and that in itself is a powerful thing.”

Let us start by putting pictures of children on billboards of those who try very hard to improve themselves but continue to be average. Celebrations should begin and end there.