Surveys show that the average American believes he or she will live a longer-than-average life. They can’t all be right. In fact — let’s think this through — approximately half will eventually be proven wrong.
In short, the average American wrongly believes that he or she will do better than most. Hence the brisk sales of lottery tickets.
“C is an average grade,” I tell my students. “C means you’re doing just fine. B is a good grade, a better-than-average grade, and an A is an outstanding grade reserved for truly outstanding work.” I’m lying of course, and I suppose they know it. University-wide, the average grade is a B-minus. Higher for some subjects.
