An average understanding of "average"

One of the very dubious advantages of half term is that I get to watch the same daytime TV as my Dad and one of the programs he watches, tutting and grumbling all the time, is The Wright Stuff. He's 86, he's allowed to tut and grumble but his irritation at the program sometimes pales beside mine. Take today for example. One of the discussions was about the use of the word "average" when describing people. Of course the average man probably doesn't give a monkey's but the show's premise was that describing someone, especially in school, as average is demoralising and stops them from acheiving their full potential. The word, they suggested shouldn't be used.* Average is a bad thing. The callers to the program were of one mind. Everyone should strive to be above average. One caller, with an clearly over-competitive nature, seemed to be suggesting that if you didn't want to best at everything you weren't trying hard enough.

Of course you can strive for whatever you like. I could strive to become the world's greatest olympic triathlete but with my age, weight and general fitness it ain't gonna happen, is it?

Absolutely no one seemed to have an idea of what an average is. I've talked about this before with reference to a politician some years ago who said on a TV interview that he would only be happy when everyone was above average. Welcome to a life of misery.

Let me repeat now what I said then - if you have an average then by definition some people will be above and some people will be below it. If everyone below improves to the point that they surpass the previous average then the average moves so that some are still below it.

This talk of averages being good or bad is absurd. The idea that by not telling people that their performance is average then it somehow isn't, is equally absurd. The idea that everyone can be better than average is the most absurd of the lot, it is logically nonsense. The absolute best you could ever hope for would be that everyone would be exactly the same and then they would all be average, no one better and no one worse.

Of course, I may not be the average daytime TV viewer.

*What word should be used instead when describing the kid who is at the "average" position wasn't clear. I can't believe that "mean" would be a preferred choice.