Outliers: The Story of Success
Chapter 1: The Matthew Effect-“For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away eve that which he hath.” Matthew 25:29
Quote: “It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.” (pg. 30) I chose this quote because it’s a translation of the scripture in the book of Matthew 25:29, listed above in the chapter title. According to Gladwell, when someone is successful, they will receive accumulative advantages such bigger tax breaks for the rich, the best students receive the best teaching and most attention, and successful athletes participate in all-star games, which equates to extra playing time against higher leve of competition.
Question: If a child is not as successful as others in school, for example, what can parents do to help them “catch up” and make up ground?
Connection: In Outliers, Gladwell’s goal is to convince us that personal explanations of success (skilled, talented, driven) do not work and that we owe something to parentage and patronage. It makes a difference where and when we were born. Gladwell begins telling the story of hockey players and how maturity has everything to do with their success, in other words, when they were born or birth date is the explanation for their success. Some athletes were months older than their teammates. Thinking back to my little league baseball career, every league had “the big kid” on a team. I wasn’t one of them. Some had a few and they were known as a “man child.” Looking back, these “big kids” were almost a year older than most of us so they had a little under a year more of life, experience and maturity. Naturally these kids will be better than the younger athletes just because their mind and physical body had more time to mature. This leads to more special attention, more all-star games, more parent/coach involvement, more practice which Gladwell calls “accumaltive advantage.” The advantages continuously stack on top of each other.
Epiphany: As a teacher, I see the same thing in my second grade classroom. The older students appear to be more mature to handle the demands of the curriculum, their penmanship appears to be more developed, their behavior is a bit more controlled, their speech is matured and the “accumulative advantages” go on. Gladwell proposes that schools can do the same thing as in sports. Elementary and middle schools could put the January-April born students in one class, the May through August in another class, and those born in September through December in the third class. This would level out the playing field because many younger struggling students never catch up.
Chapter 2: The 10,000 Hour Rule-“In Hamburg, we had to play for eight hours.”
Quote: “And what’s ten years? Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” I chose this quote because it clarifies that talent is nothing without preparation. Many kids and adults believe people achieve a certain level of success because they’re overly talented, as if they did not have to work for it, they were just born with it. Gladwell’s research shows that no one is a “natural” at something, they may have talent but it’s there hours and hours of hard work that gets them to a high level.
Question: How can we get kids to practice what they love to do for countless hours when they may not have financial or physical support at home?
Connection: When I was a kid, I played baseball and was always one of the smaller kids on the team. I was always able to have a sense that I had to outwork the taller and bigger kids. I knew my height was an obstacle so in addition to our team practices, I would go jogging on my own, swing a bat in my backyard, practiced my stance and would go to the batting cages. I would never tell anyone on my team that I did this, I wanted to keep it a secret because I didn’t want the bigger kids to find out what I did and then they would do the same and beat me. I was very competitive. In regards to teaching, I do the same. I don’t take many breaks, I work through my lunch, or eat as I work, to get in as much time as I can and so I don’t stay too late. During my time in the classroom, I feel very creative so I try to maximize my time in their researching and creating lessons.
Epiphany: “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” (Pg. 42) I love this quote and it’s something I try to instill in my 2nd graders. It’s also the reason why I became a primary teacher; I wanted the opportunity to spark the “I CAN” mindset in my students at an early age which can impact the direction of their lives, a positive impact.
Chapter 3: The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1-“Knowledge of a boy’s IQ is of little help if you faced with a formful of clever boys.”
Quote: “The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point. Once someone has reached an IQ of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any surable real-world advantage.” (pg. 79) Gladwell argues that if you’re part of a group where all students have high IQ’s, then you’re already above the threshold of normalcy. An IQ of 120 is enough ability to achieve a certain level of success if you work hard and prepare. Having an IQ higher than 120 doesn’t necessarily increase the chances of success, there’s actually a drop off in creativity the higher the IQ after 120. In other words, intelligence has a threshold, a person scoring 120 and a person scoring 170 can both equally win a Nobel Peace prize simply because they’re both above the threshold of the majority (anyone below 120).
Question: As teachers, instead of focusing on test scores, should we only care about how well our students do in the real world?
Connection: In our graduate course, we have students of all ability levels, experience and possibly a wide range of IQ or GRE scores. However, we’re all taking the same classes and learning the same information, which places us above the threshold of those not taking a graduate program in leadership or those that did not have a high enough GRE score. All of us have equal opportunities to achieve something great during and after this graduate program in education because as Gladwell simply stated, “knowledge of a boys IQ is of little help if you are faced with a farmful of clever boys.” (pg. 84) Only difference is that our graduate program has a farmful of clever men and women that have the same opportunities to succeed so our IQ or GRE scores are irrelevant.
Epiphany: Being good enough to enter a certain program, community or profession is all we need. After that, it’s up to us to put in the work, to put in the time (hours), effort and passion into something to be great. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about our intelligence, it’s about will.
Reference
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.
Chapter 1: The Matthew Effect-“For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away eve that which he hath.” Matthew 25:29
Quote: “It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.” (pg. 30) I chose this quote because it’s a translation of the scripture in the book of Matthew 25:29, listed above in the chapter title. According to Gladwell, when someone is successful, they will receive accumulative advantages such bigger tax breaks for the rich, the best students receive the best teaching and most attention, and successful athletes participate in all-star games, which equates to extra playing time against higher leve of competition.
Question: If a child is not as successful as others in school, for example, what can parents do to help them “catch up” and make up ground?
Connection: In Outliers, Gladwell’s goal is to convince us that personal explanations of success (skilled, talented, driven) do not work and that we owe something to parentage and patronage. It makes a difference where and when we were born. Gladwell begins telling the story of hockey players and how maturity has everything to do with their success, in other words, when they were born or birth date is the explanation for their success. Some athletes were months older than their teammates. Thinking back to my little league baseball career, every league had “the big kid” on a team. I wasn’t one of them. Some had a few and they were known as a “man child.” Looking back, these “big kids” were almost a year older than most of us so they had a little under a year more of life, experience and maturity. Naturally these kids will be better than the younger athletes just because their mind and physical body had more time to mature. This leads to more special attention, more all-star games, more parent/coach involvement, more practice which Gladwell calls “accumaltive advantage.” The advantages continuously stack on top of each other.
Epiphany: As a teacher, I see the same thing in my second grade classroom. The older students appear to be more mature to handle the demands of the curriculum, their penmanship appears to be more developed, their behavior is a bit more controlled, their speech is matured and the “accumulative advantages” go on. Gladwell proposes that schools can do the same thing as in sports. Elementary and middle schools could put the January-April born students in one class, the May through August in another class, and those born in September through December in the third class. This would level out the playing field because many younger struggling students never catch up.
Chapter 2: The 10,000 Hour Rule-“In Hamburg, we had to play for eight hours.”
Quote: “And what’s ten years? Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” I chose this quote because it clarifies that talent is nothing without preparation. Many kids and adults believe people achieve a certain level of success because they’re overly talented, as if they did not have to work for it, they were just born with it. Gladwell’s research shows that no one is a “natural” at something, they may have talent but it’s there hours and hours of hard work that gets them to a high level.
Question: How can we get kids to practice what they love to do for countless hours when they may not have financial or physical support at home?
Connection: When I was a kid, I played baseball and was always one of the smaller kids on the team. I was always able to have a sense that I had to outwork the taller and bigger kids. I knew my height was an obstacle so in addition to our team practices, I would go jogging on my own, swing a bat in my backyard, practiced my stance and would go to the batting cages. I would never tell anyone on my team that I did this, I wanted to keep it a secret because I didn’t want the bigger kids to find out what I did and then they would do the same and beat me. I was very competitive. In regards to teaching, I do the same. I don’t take many breaks, I work through my lunch, or eat as I work, to get in as much time as I can and so I don’t stay too late. During my time in the classroom, I feel very creative so I try to maximize my time in their researching and creating lessons.
Epiphany: “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” (Pg. 42) I love this quote and it’s something I try to instill in my 2nd graders. It’s also the reason why I became a primary teacher; I wanted the opportunity to spark the “I CAN” mindset in my students at an early age which can impact the direction of their lives, a positive impact.
Chapter 3: The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1-“Knowledge of a boy’s IQ is of little help if you faced with a formful of clever boys.”
Quote: “The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point. Once someone has reached an IQ of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any surable real-world advantage.” (pg. 79) Gladwell argues that if you’re part of a group where all students have high IQ’s, then you’re already above the threshold of normalcy. An IQ of 120 is enough ability to achieve a certain level of success if you work hard and prepare. Having an IQ higher than 120 doesn’t necessarily increase the chances of success, there’s actually a drop off in creativity the higher the IQ after 120. In other words, intelligence has a threshold, a person scoring 120 and a person scoring 170 can both equally win a Nobel Peace prize simply because they’re both above the threshold of the majority (anyone below 120).
Question: As teachers, instead of focusing on test scores, should we only care about how well our students do in the real world?
Connection: In our graduate course, we have students of all ability levels, experience and possibly a wide range of IQ or GRE scores. However, we’re all taking the same classes and learning the same information, which places us above the threshold of those not taking a graduate program in leadership or those that did not have a high enough GRE score. All of us have equal opportunities to achieve something great during and after this graduate program in education because as Gladwell simply stated, “knowledge of a boys IQ is of little help if you are faced with a farmful of clever boys.” (pg. 84) Only difference is that our graduate program has a farmful of clever men and women that have the same opportunities to succeed so our IQ or GRE scores are irrelevant.
Epiphany: Being good enough to enter a certain program, community or profession is all we need. After that, it’s up to us to put in the work, to put in the time (hours), effort and passion into something to be great. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about our intelligence, it’s about will.
Reference
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.