The End of Average, The Celebration of Diversity

By Phil Cocchiola, Head of School

Oxford Academy and the Principles Behind Todd Rose End of Average

The Oxford Academy was founded on the principle that truly individualized learning provides the highest level of engagement available and accounts for the unique cognitive profile of each student.  We do not believe there is an “average” student but celebrate diversity among students.  In Todd Rose’s book, The End of Average, he highlights that “from the moment we’re born to the moment we die, we are measured against a mythical yardstick — the average human — and it’s hurting everyone.” Rose is the co-founder of Populace, a think tank committed to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to pursue fulfilling lives in a thriving society.  Prior to Populace, he was a faculty member at Harvard University where he founded the Laboratory for the Science of Individuality and directed the Mind, Brain, and Education program. He emphatically argues that there is no average. No average professor. No average worker. No average soldier. No average Joe. And at Oxford Academy, we would add no average student.

 

The Factory Model of Education: A Core Theme in Todd Rose End of Average

Rose says it’s no accident how we got here: Schools were designed during the industrial age by people who were “absolutely obsessed” with averages because averages worked so well in managing factories. The goal wasn’t to nurture creativity and develop individuality. The system mostly accomplished what it set out to do: prepare students for standardized jobs in an industrial economy. Since then, we have continued to think that the average — a human invention — represents everyone or that any deviation from the average defines you.

 

Historical Context and the Power of Personalization

During the 1950s, the United States Air Force began thinking a lot about averages. At the time, pilots were having trouble controlling their planes. As Rose explains, at first the problem was pinned on pilot error and poor training. But the real problem turned out to be the fact that the cockpit had just one design: one for the average pilot of an earlier era, the 1920s.

Air Force researcher, Gilbert Daniels, worked on this project and they found that striving for average simply didn’t work. In fact, out of 4000 pilots studied, none of them met the metrics. In a bold move, they stopped using average measurements and sought out adjustable equipment that could be sized to each pilot. The established producers of Air Force jets were not amused.

 

What Todd Rose End of Average Means for Educational Reform

The Air Force would accept nothing less to meet the needs of each pilot and guess what happened? The impossible became possible. Once the cockpit design became more customized, it opened up the field of pilot candidates to more body types allowing all kinds of people to be successful. An entire industry shifted away from the notion of average, and as a result, the Air Force now possesses an incredible talent pool of pilots, many of whom would not have been selected previously.

 

Rose then makes an intriguing comparison to the established education system: how teaching to the average destroys talent and produces frightening drop-out rates.  He adds that the system needs to change if we want our children to find success. Dropout rates among those with learning challenges and those identified as gifted range between 10-20 percent annually – millions of students being let down by the current education system.  He proposes designing curriculum and materials that, much like the Air Force, teach to the edges and allow for more individualization. But I  argue that this isn’t enough, we can do better.

 

Oxford Academy: Living the Vision of Todd Rose End of Average

Back when Oxford Academy was founded in 1906, Dr. Joseph Weidberg came to the same conclusion as Rose and the Air Force, but took it further when he designed a school based on the Socratic Method, and rooted the educational philosophy in designing curriculum around the learner rather than the other way around. True Learner Centered Education. In other words, EACH course of study is designed for the individual. A customized learning experience that meets the unique needs of each learner and proceeds dynamically throughout their preparations for college. Each student working one to one with their teachers provides the highest level of engagement and growth.  In its present iteration, the focus is on mastery – authentic mastery, not pushing students through a curriculum.

 

What Rose doesn’t know is that this change is already here and our teachers have been individualizing education for over one hundred years. His book and Ted Talk absolutely reinforce why an Oxford education is unlike anything else in the world and why we continue to be thought leaders in education.

To read the article in its published form in the Greenwich Sentinel click here.