Mediocrity and the Road Most Taken

It occurred to me in the past few months that many institutions of higher learning operate under a culture of mediocrity. Now I am not going to be pointing any fingers, but it is not hard to tell which institutions are included in this general criteria. One may even be the place you are in now...

I came upon this notion after the results of my last annual evaluation, one in which I scored rather high. The fact that I scored high did not result a call for congratulation by the administration, but instead raised a red-flag in that I did score high in the face of the majority that scored average. It was explained to me by my director that if a supervisor turns in an evaluation that exceeds the basic average, the administration frowns and demands written proof of why such an evaluation has been written. Such written proof was provided in the forms of e-mails and unsolicited faculty letters heaping laud on my work.

Later, my director explained the mechanics of the evaluations. She said that administration expected everyone to score average, and score average, you just have to show up to work and just basically do a minimal effort at you job!! Those people that exceed the average must prove why as this in turn makes everyone else look bad.

A culture of mediocrity.... Just what we need for the status quo to remained unchanged and progress to be limited.