The Myth of the Average Student: Honoring the Trailblazers of the Class of 2024

This excerpt is from my speech delivered May 18, 2024, during the Commencement ceremony of The Forest School and Forest School Online based in Trilith, GA, celebrating the innovative journey and achievements of our 2024 graduates.

Thank you to the parents of our 2024 graduates for blazing a new trail with us, and to the Class of 2024 for your courage and faith in changing the way you learn.

As I’ve reflected on the Class of 2024, I’m struck by the fact that most of you have been at Forest for all—or nearly all—of your high school career…Which means you have either little to no experience of a traditional American high school. Sure, maybe your parents or friends have told you stories. But that’s way different than experiencing it. So I want to give you a quick behind-the-scenes tour… of what you missed out on.?

First of all, in every traditional American high school, there is a make believe person. Walking around the halls, taking classes, having lunches, playing sports, and riding the bus. A made up person. A fantasy. And I’m totally serious. In 1835 a man from Belgium called Quetelet made a theory called the "Average Man.” He argued that every single person is a deviation from this average…and so one of the most important questions in life is how different are we from the Average Man? All the way from Belgium, this idea eventually got picked up in America by school leaders. Believing there is such a thing as an average student, they made grade levels that everybody needed to fit into. It goes like this—If you haven’t learned as much as that make believe person by a certain day, then you’re below average. If you’ve learned more the make believe person, then you’re rockin’ and rollin’...you’re above average. If you’ve learned the same amount as this fantasy young person, then, good, whew, you’re average. Can you imagine that?

Traditional American high schools also do this thing where they rank kids against each other—they say like, “you’re #1, you’re #2, you’re #3…” and then they’ll group you by ability. Like maybe the top 20%, that’s the gifted track. The next 20% is college prep. The next 20 is general ed. Then next 20 is vocational. And the last 20 is special ed. Ask your parents what track they were in, they’ll tell you. This idea is by design. It comes from the 1860s from a guy in England called Galton, who ranked people based on their skills. Education policymakers in America liked this idea, too. A few decades later, they made the tracks, and catch this…they gave kids access to an education specific to their track only. Once you’re in a track, you can’t learn stuff from a higher or lower track. Just yours. Can you imagine it?

Two more things about the school you missed out on are standardized tests and standardized curriculum. This is the idea that everybody needs to study and be tested on pretty much the same things. This traces back to a man called Frederick Taylor, whose ideas were used during World War I to test military recruits. After that war, similar tests were made for schools, known today as End of Course tests. In my day, they were called Finals. They were designed to maximize efficiency and minimize variability. It’s kind of like going to a restaurant and instead of ordering, being told, “Here’s what you get for dinner.” Can you imagine that?

In their day, these ideas of Average, Ranking, Standardization, and Sorting by Potential were revolutionary. But what was once revolutionary are now relics. They do not support the needs of young people in today’s dynamic and interconnected world. They do not nurture the skills required for life today, nor do they leverage the rich individuality of every young person.

?Heroes, your school is different on purpose. Instead of average, we believe in personalization. There is no make-believe person here. Rather, every person is a genius in their own way. Where their needs and dreams are special, and therefore require a special set of learning experiences. This past month, I asked our Class of 2024 whether they felt their high school program was customized to their life goals. I’m delighted they each said yes.?

At Forest we also don’t rank who’s better than who. Forest is built instead for inclusive community. We believe that strong, trusting relationships—not status or money—are the greatest form of wealth.?

Instead of standardizing things so that they’re the same, at Forest we believe in creativity and innovation. We hardly ever ask yes or no questions and instead ask wicked, open-ended ones, where we have to think critically, imagine, and invent. The goal is not just to adapt to the future, but to shape it.?

And instead of sorting by potential, we believe in freedom, resilience, and independence. At Forest, carving your own path in life is not just encouraged, it’s expected. The real ninja move of the most successful learners at The Forest School are those who figure out how to use the resources of our school—the time, the tools, the talent, and the connections—to pursue their goals.

I’m glad to say that our senior class has done just that.

Watch the whole speech on our school's Facebook page.