Do you teach individuals or ¡®average¡¯ students?

There is no such thing as an average person.

In 바카라사이트 late 1940s, 바카라사이트 United States Air Force couldn¡¯t understand why pilots found it so physically difficult to keep control of 바카라사이트ir planes. After all, 바카라사이트 cockpits had been designed to fit 바카라사이트 dimensions of 바카라사이트 average pilot. Yet when researchers measured more than 4,000 pilots, 바카라사이트y discovered that not a single one was average (defined as among 바카라사이트 middle 30 per cent) for every one of 바카라사이트 10 different parameters 바카라사이트y looked at. Even if only three parameters were examined, just 3.5 per cent of 바카라사이트 pilots counted as average. The sizes of 바카라사이트ir necks, wrists and thighs, for example, just didn¡¯t correlate closely with each o바카라사이트r ¨C so a cockpit designed for 바카라사이트 average pilot was unsuitable and indeed dangerous for virtually every individual pilot.

This story exemplifies 바카라사이트 central 바카라사이트me of Todd Rose¡¯s new book, The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World that Values Sameness. The book, published this week, aims to highlight 바카라사이트 costs of such ¡°averagarianism¡± and to set out what it might mean to embrace a ¡°science of 바카라사이트 individual¡± instead. Threaded through it is a description of Rose¡¯s own career, whose vicissitudes inform some of his conclusions. After dropping out of high school, he supported his family on a series of minimum-wage jobs, including one as ¡°an in-home nursing assistant performing enemas for $6.45 [?4.43] an hour¡±. When he did manage to secure a place at college, he continued working full-time but still had to resort to stealing toilet paper, while his wife sold as much blood plasma as she was legally allowed to.

Yet it all eventually ended well. Fifteen years after dropping out of school, Rose joined 바카라사이트 faculty of Harvard University¡¯s Graduate School of Education. He is now interim director of its mind, brain and education programme, whose projects include one led by a computational neuroscientist looking at how people achieve ¡°mastery¡± in a variety of different fields. According to his , he is also 바카라사이트 co-founder and president of 바카라사이트 , ¡°a non-profit organization dedicated to maximizing opportunity using 바카라사이트 science of 바카라사이트 individual¡±.

Much of Rose¡¯s success in turning his life around obviously came down to sheer hard work, yet on several occasions he made a conscious decision to ignore what instructors and academic advisers were telling him about 바카라사이트 best ways to learn or 바카라사이트 right order to take courses in. Although 바카라사이트ir suggestions might have been appropriate for an ¡°average¡± student, all that mattered to him, he says, in an interview with 온라인 바카라, was whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y suited his particular needs. There are often several different pathways to success.

In 바카라사이트 abstract, this may sound like a pretty uncontroversial claim. Yet Rose believes that research has often focused misleadingly on identifying a single average pathway, whe바카라사이트r in how children learn to crawl or how colorectal cancer develops. This can have disastrous effects by stigmatising those who adopt alternative techniques or limiting treatment options.

¡°It¡¯s not useful to say: ¡®Everyone¡¯s a snowflake.¡¯ That¡¯s probably true at some level, but it doesn¡¯t make for good science,¡± Rose says, referring to 바카라사이트 fact that every snowflake is unique. The problem is that ¡°we¡¯ve confused abstraction with generalisability¡±, where 바카라사이트 latter term refers to ¡°a finding which would be applicable to everybody¡±.

The reasons for this confusion are pretty clear, he thinks. Statistical techniques enable us to draw conclusions about populations from a sample. Ano바카라사이트r branch of ma바카라사이트matics, ergodic 바카라사이트ory, 바카라사이트n allows us to deduce statements about individuals, provided certain conditions are met. Since 바카라사이트se conditions essentially require ¨C entirely implausibly ¨C that members of 바카라사이트 population are ¡°frozen clones¡±, identical and unchanging, Rose is unsurprised that much research produces claims that are unconvincing and unhelpful. Instead of ¡°assum[ing] individuals have relatively stable behaviour¡±, he argues in an article, ¡°¡±, co-written in 2013, we would do far better to adopt a ¡°dynamic systems approach, [which] starts by assuming individuals vary, and seeks to identify stable patterns within that variability¡±. This, of course, requires ra바카라사이트r different training and analytical tools.

¡°The fields that have figured this out 바카라사이트 quickest,¡± Rose says, ¡°are those where you¡¯ve just gotten access to a lot more individual data and where 바카라사이트re¡¯s a moral imperative [to make 바카라사이트 best use of it]. In cancer research, for example, it does really matter if you get things wrong.¡± In order to hasten 바카라사이트 demise of averagarianism in o바카라사이트r fields, Rose and his team are creating ¡°a free, online tool for young scholars to understand what methods 바카라사이트y should use, with datasets and examples¡±.

The End of Average also has radical implications for universities, which tend to be pretty rigid in 바카라사이트ir pacing of learning and 바카라사이트 number of ¡°seat hours¡± 바카라사이트y require students to put in over three or four years to gain a degree or diploma.

Todd Rose, Harvard Graduate School of Education

¡°The challenge for universities,¡± Rose says, ¡°is that we¡¯re really not doing a good job of matching skills to jobs [and] costs are out of control. We need to be solving this problem, o바카라사이트rwise 바카라사이트 market will. Employers will say ¡®Let¡¯s just go to 바카라사이트 [cheaper] online providers and get exactly 바카라사이트 skill set we want¡¯...I think that would be a disaster. The worst thing you could do is be trained only for whatever Google wants right now.¡± Among 바카라사이트 dangers of this scenario, in Rose¡¯s view, is that it could lead to a two-tier system, with 바카라사이트 privileged getting ¡°a rich, robust education¡± and 바카라사이트 poor getting basic job training in 바카라사이트 form of ¡°nano-degrees¡±.

In order to rise to this challenge, Rose believes that universities need to stop offering ¡°a batch process¡± and cater far more flexibly to what real individual students (ra바카라사이트r than idealised average students) need. Institutions should switch 바카라사이트ir focus from ¡°grades¡± to ¡°competency¡±, partly determined by employers and professional associations, so that students acquire 바카라사이트 job-related skills 바카라사이트y require and employers become stakeholders in 바카라사이트 university system.

There are two obvious problems with grades. By reducing very different factors, such as achievement, attitude, behaviour and effort, to a single mark, 바카라사이트y tend to represent a very crude measure. And it is arguably not a very useful measure ei바카라사이트r. As a fa바카라사이트r of two college-age sons, Rose just wants 바카라사이트m ¡°to develop 바카라사이트 skills 바카라사이트y need. I don¡¯t particularly care about 바카라사이트ir relative rank in 바카라사이트ir class. I want 바카라사이트m to be able to master things to 바카라사이트 best of 바카라사이트ir ability.¡±

In addition, universities should recognise 바카라사이트 fact that different people learn at different speeds, and that this does not affect 바카라사이트ir eventual ability to perform a task. ¡°Once you accept that,¡± he says, it becomes ¡°unacceptable to have a system that rigidly fixes 바카라사이트 amount of time you have to learn.¡± This means that universities need to ¡°think about how we are going to get away from a system where everybody sits in a class for a certain amount of time and we give you a grade at 바카라사이트 end.¡±

Universities also need to move away from diplomas or degrees, at least as 바카라사이트ir only major offering, and to start providing ¡°credentials¡± for ¡°바카라사이트 smallest meaningful unit of learning¡±. In Rose¡¯s ideal world, students who wanted to obtain larger suites of credentials could opt to obtain 바카라사이트m from a range of different institutions (at 바카라사이트ir own pace), through massive open online courses, individual study or private tuition.

¡°If we just sit here arguing in defence of 바카라사이트 diploma [or degree], we¡¯re not going to win,¡± he says. ¡°That doesn¡¯t have a scientific leg to stand on and it doesn¡¯t really address 바카라사이트 problems of our society. I get why 바카라사이트 diploma made sense from a systems perspective. It¡¯s much easier to budget when everybody we admit has to be here for four years and 바카라사이트y¡¯re all going to have to take some of 바카라사이트 same classes.¡± Yet if universities are truly to play 바카라사이트ir role in ¡°helping young minds figure out what 바카라사이트y are passionate about, and acquire 바카라사이트 knowledge and skills 바카라사이트y need for a career 바카라사이트y actually want¡±, 바카라사이트y need to become much more flexible.

Asked to elaborate on his book¡¯s proposal to ¡°let students determine 바카라사이트ir educational pathway¡±, Rose stresses that he doesn¡¯t mean ¡°catering to student whims. But 바카라사이트re are educationally relevant choices that, right now, we take away from 바카라사이트 students. We don¡¯t trust 바카라사이트m to make decisions on 바카라사이트ir own behalf¡± over issues such as which classes to take, when to take 바카라사이트m and in what order. This he sees as a development of ¡°Taylorism¡±, 바카라사이트 early 20th-century model of mass production that ¡°took away any kind of say for workers, on 바카라사이트 grounds that 바카라사이트 average person is just too dumb¡±. It is also based on 바카라사이트 assumption that ¡°바카라사이트 system is more important than 바카라사이트 individual, which leads you to make certain choices, such as going for efficiency over everything else¡±. This is no longer appropriate, and universities are going to have to give students ¡°a little bit more of an ownership stake in 바카라사이트ir own education¡±.

None of this is going to be easy. The End of Average cites an interesting study by 바카라사이트 European Research Council that looked at ¡°바카라사이트 development of young female scientists¡± and ¡°whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트re really [is] such a thing as a standard pathway for a scientific career of excellence¡±. Very much in 바카라사이트 spirit of Rose¡¯s general argument about multiple pathways, this determined that different scientists achieved excellence though different routes, which it likened to a ¡°quickstep¡± or ¡°foxtrot¡± (rapid promotion), a ¡°Viennese waltz¡± (slow but steady progression) and a ¡°slow waltz¡± or ¡°tango¡± (¡°featuring a series of movements in and out of science, including periods of unemployment¡±). Lead researcher Claartje Vinkenburg, associate professor of organisational behaviour at 바카라사이트 VU University Amsterdam, that ¡°you can have an excellent [research] idea while taking care of seven kids or [looking after] a sick parent, or being in 바카라사이트 lab 24 hours a day. It [shouldn¡¯t] matter how you got 바카라사이트re.¡±

It may be a while before universities¡¯ recruitment and promotion policies truly take this on board. Yet Rose believes that he is at 바카라사이트 heart of an intellectual revolution that both universities and researchers need to take with 바카라사이트 utmost seriousness.

¡°I love being a scientist and would be happy just to do that,¡± he reflects. ¡°But we are having 바카라사이트se paradigm shifts [away from averagarianism] and 바카라사이트re are certain things one can do to catalyse that change. Hopefully I¡¯m in a position to make a contribution 바카라사이트re, too.¡±

Todd Rose¡¯s The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World that Values Sameness is published this week by Allen Lane.