The Washington Post Saturday, February 2, 1985 A1-7  
Jonathan YardleyÛªs column, ÛÏBrigitte Bardot and the BaccalaureateÛ [Style, Jan. 28] was disturbing. While he or I might not be particularly interested in studying popular culture issues raised in the films of Bardot, that doesnÛªt mean that college study of popular culture as seen through those films is inherently bad. As a matter of fact, it might help students to think more critically and to better understand the world around us.</br></br>It is possible that this may be a good and valid class. To judge it, much more information is needed than is provided by the course title and scintillating description obviously designed to attract students. What are the objectives? Are they important? Does the course meet its goals.</br></br>Making fun of academe is easy, but unless judicious evaluation is indicated in the analysis, it serves no purpose.</br></br>Sorry, William R. Moses, but your sermonette (ÛÏNot Average,Û Free for All, Jan. 26] condemning Robert McCall to statistical hell for misuse of the term ÛÏaverageÛ is way off any average mark. McCall was guilty of the venial sin of saying ÛÏtheÛ definition of average instead of "oneÛ definition. An average is any measure of central tendency of a distribution; it is a generic term and includes both a median (the middle value) and the arithmetic mean (what you and lots of others call the average). These two averages give the same value when the distribution is symmetricalÛÓwhich is the case of studentsÛª academic performance. These distinctions are not trivial: commercials and sales pitches of all kinds use the specific definition of ÛÏaverageÛ that gives strength to their claim.</br></br>Incidentally, yet a third average (there are many more, depending on the analytical purpose) is the "modeÛÛÓthat is, the specific value to which the largest single number of observations corresponds. I am afraid it is this kind of average that describes those who issue stern public corrections without really knowing what they are correcting.