What Does it Mean to Be Normal?

“What Does It mean to be ‘Normal?’”

“Normal” is an adjective that we all strive to become and hope to be in someone’s eyes. In the dictionary, the word “normal is described as: “Of average intelligence, or development.” We are influenced by society and educational standards to strive to become normal or above normal in our educational systems. It is something that is expected of us. If we fail short of the societies educational testing standards of intelligence and its expectations, then we are quickly labeled as being ‘abnormal,’ begin to doubt our abilities and placed in slow paced classes where we are mentally segregated from the rest of our peers and the world. We are measured by our test scores and our abilities are compared and weighed to the test scores of others – we forced to compete against our friends and peers. What does it mean to be normal? Does it mean that we are normal when we score in the expected intelligent range of our school ages? What happens when we fail to score within the expected educations standards? I know all too well about what happens when one does not score in the “expected test range” and how one is treated.