“90% of everything is not very good.”

That is Sturgeon’s law. In the first reading of the Law, or the first sense, we understand that ninety percent of whatever you name, such as food, films, novels, or cars, is less than superiour or quality, or less than what we might call “good.”

In the second reading of the Law, or sense of the Law, we might understand that only achieving ninety percent of all there is, is not very good. Very good would be to get 100%. Or that having ninety percent of everything is not good enough, we need to get 100%.

Of course, the Law has in mind the first sense. Ninety percent of all that we encounter is really not done well, not prepared well, not made well. There will always be gradations in every endeavor. Some students will do very well, others won’t. And contrary to the wicked idea of the Bell Curve, really only ten percent of my students do well in my classes. Ninety percent aren’t very good. “Ninety percent of my students are not very good students.” That’s the meaning of the Law.

Ninety percent of the trips you take aren’t very good.

Ninety percent of the conversations you have aren’t very good.

Ninety percent of the movies you see aren’t very good.