How Incredible is Average?

21/Feb/2013

How Incredible is Average?

     Yet again I was watching a movie - this time The Incredibles, with my parents. Several times throughout the movie, the statement is made that if everyone's super, no one will be (or, if everyone's special, no one is). I am personally having a hard time deciding whether I agree with that or not. Surely, if everyone is blue, or if everyone has a cat, it doesn't apply in those circumstances - everyone is actually still blue. But being "super" or being "special" is a different kind of quality; it's something more than the shallow, physical attribute.
     I compare it to being gifted. What would happen if everyone was "gifted"? (I shouldn't get started on that; I could go on forever on the vague term "gifted" and what it does or does not mean, not to mention what it should or should not mean.) Since gifted is traditionally marked by an IQ score of (typically) 125 or higher, then that would simply be the average. Possibly more importantly, though, the need for the IQ range would cease to exist. No more specialized classes, no more No Child Left Behind programs. It sounds wonderful, I think.
     However, then I think about why we are different in the first place. Our IQ is such a fundamental part of who we are, that for it to be the same in everyone would be to eliminate an incredibly large range for variety. Is it worth it to not have any failures, if it means not having any above-and-beyond's either? When everyone succeeds, it doesn't mean anything. Impressive factor = 0. Right now, I'm at about 25/75, more so on the side of difference. That could just be me being selfish, though, since I fall into that category of what psychologists and specialists have deemed as special enough to be more than average. Would having this theoretically utopian world produce even more great inventions and wonders, or would it stalemate creativity and the desire to do better? What desire to do better could you have, if you already knew everyone else would do just as well? This might just be one of those that I need to step back and let it simmer for a little bit, before I can really draw a conclusion. Or, maybe there just isn't a right answer. Can average be incredible? I really don't know.