You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
As someone who studies organizational psychology, the theme of this book is relatable for me. The system criticized by the author, Taylorism, is the main idea of most concept in organizational psychology. The author tried to persuade readers in seeing things beyond the average number, by showing how average rarely answer our question about our social situation and how individualistic approach has gathered its followers, bit by bit.
The notion whether we should accept his proposed system is a debatable matter for another time, but the most important part about this book is telling me, just because things going like this today, doesn't mean it has to stay like this forever. Constructive critics toward the system we understand today make even better circumstances for tomorrow, I guess.
The notion whether we should accept his proposed system is a debatable matter for another time, but the most important part about this book is telling me, just because things going like this today, doesn't mean it has to stay like this forever. Constructive critics toward the system we understand today make even better circumstances for tomorrow, I guess.
I feel like the premise of this book is common sense if you have experienced any kind of marginalization, but able-bodied white men will think it's revolutionary. Whatever, his educational "solutions" to k-12 education we're vague at best, and his ideas for higher ed were pretty much terrible.
I truly enjoyed this book. I hate the idea of teaching to an "average" student and clothes being based on an "average" size. This book was pretty eye-opening and I loved the examples given to reinforce that "average" is really an illusion.
I really enjoyed the first part of this book - it is truly the first time I have been completely fascinated by statistical concepts. Things which had previously befuddled me suddenly made sense, and it added a new dimension to my understanding of social science research. That being said, I have a hard time accepting the argument that the concept of "individualization" can be successfully implemented within large organizations, and particularly within higher education.
This was a very enjoyable and thought-provoking read. Rose's premise is that our society is structured to cater to the average rather than valuing the individual. In so doing, many opportunities are lost in the education system and consequently the workplace to maximize human potential. There are many implications to this, of course. As a parent, I see this play out in my child's education and how success or failure is measured by limited metrics. It's promising to see this kind of thinking penetrate education models (Khan Academy) and companies (Costco, etc).
Pretty fascinating look on how our whole society is based on averages. A few ideas on how to break out of it. Relevant to my teaching.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
This book is for all of us who, at times, have felt let down by being compared to an unattainable average. Perhaps I'm not good at something but that certainly doesn't make me below average. I enjoyed every aspect of this book and the author makes some really good points. I found it interesting that not only did he make an argument for the end of what we call average (which what exactly is that) but he also makes a great argument for individuality.
Why can't we celebrate our differences without being made feel like if we don't measure up to some preconceived idea there is something wrong with us? The author makes the point for this with a story about a baby crawling and how we, in the West, think it's normal for a baby to crawl. We never stop to think that our normal is someone else abnormal.
One of the things I found refreshing about this book is its lack of "tooting his horn." Most of the books within this genre always make me feel as if the author is trying to show me how much he/she knows and how important he/she is. There is short passage where this author mentions his credentials but it's appropriate where located and then that's it. I don't particularly care about the author (well, I do but not for my enjoyment of the book). However, I'm super interested in what the research in this area has to teach me.
I couldn't recommend this book more. I'm not swearing but it may wind up in one of my Most favorite of 2016.
XoXo
Ana[bc:The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness|24186666|The End of Average How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness|Todd Rose|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1444614253s/24186666.jpg|44945876]
Why can't we celebrate our differences without being made feel like if we don't measure up to some preconceived idea there is something wrong with us? The author makes the point for this with a story about a baby crawling and how we, in the West, think it's normal for a baby to crawl. We never stop to think that our normal is someone else abnormal.
One of the things I found refreshing about this book is its lack of "tooting his horn." Most of the books within this genre always make me feel as if the author is trying to show me how much he/she knows and how important he/she is. There is short passage where this author mentions his credentials but it's appropriate where located and then that's it. I don't particularly care about the author (well, I do but not for my enjoyment of the book). However, I'm super interested in what the research in this area has to teach me.
I couldn't recommend this book more. I'm not swearing but it may wind up in one of my Most favorite of 2016.
XoXo
Ana[bc:The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness|24186666|The End of Average How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness|Todd Rose|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1444614253s/24186666.jpg|44945876]
It's funny because everything he shares seems so logical, and it's right in front of our noses. But he talks a lot about higher education and not high school so I'm curious if there is a guide or even just examples of high schools that embrace the idea of the individual rather than what is standard. " We live in a world that demands we be the same as everyone else, only better, and reduces the American dream to a narrow yearning to be relatively better than the people around us, rather than the best version of ourselves."
Check out Todd Rose's TED Talk for a summary of the book topics :)
Check out Todd Rose's TED Talk for a summary of the book topics :)