From the Editor: One size fits?

From the law to education, health, business and politics, our society’s organisations and institutions either appeal to or aim to represent Joe (or Jenny) Average. But these ‘ordinary people’ don’t exist. That is to say, people who are average are anything but ordinary overall.

One-size-fits-all solutions are so commonly employed, that they’re downright average. Businesses frequently attempt to find their average customer, politicians seek their average voter, education sees the average student as the benchmark for grading and the list goes on.

The US military gave it a go too. As fighter planes became increasingly sophisticated, requiring a snugger fit for pilots in their cockpits, a USAF (air force) researcher set about trying to find averages, across a range of physical measurements including height and weight. This would increase the number of (GI) Joe averages who could fit.

It’s sound logic, in a way, but also dead wrong. Not one of the thousands of pilots measured would fit perfectly. Some were too big, others had arms that were a bit too long and some had a little too much ‘junk in the trunk,’ for example.

Similar examples are seen in classrooms when bell curves are used to plot test results. For simplicity’s sake, if the average grade is 50 per cent from 100 questions, few will achieve low grades, a few will score at the top and most will measure somewhere in the middle. However, very few (if any) will finish with a score dead on 50, proving that average is not exactly common – it’s rare.

In an election year, this statistical melon-twister becomes imperative – if politicians attempt to appease the average voter with promises, they are in danger of aiming to produce a utopia perfect for a few and therefore a dystopia for everyone else.

But it’s not an unsolvable problem. All we need do is find a best-fit candidate for each of us, one who best represents our individual priorities and views.

Better yet, we need representatives who understand why average suits (almost) no one. As we’ve seen time and time again in politics, the perfect is so often the enemy of the good. Well, next to incompetence, at least.

‘The first bowl of porridge was too hot, he second bowl of porridge was too cold, but the third bowl of porridge was’… too lumpy?

Jon Rawlinson