Books You May Have Missed – “Outliers The Story of Success”
Outliers, The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell is fascinating. Most of us, more often than not think about our own success or lack thereof, the success of others that we admire, perhaps envy or hold in high esteem.
Gladwell introduces new ways of thinking about and measuring success. Talent, ability, ambition and hard work are discussed. However, he offers a new dynamic to the success mix, a sense of entitlement. He describes how children, regardless of color, who clearly possess a sense of entitlement also create advantages for themselves.
In a long-term study starting from childhood a group called the Termites, all highly gifted, were followed to adulthood. Those who became most successful were also from homes filled with books and access to “a community around them that prepared them properly for the world.”
Want to know why Asian children learn to count much faster than American children? On average, at age four American children can count to only fifteen. Chinese children at age four on average can count to forty. Most American children cannot count to forty until they are five; by then American children are a full year behind Asian children, “in the most fundamental of math skills.” Is it because Asian children are smarter?
Gladwell also discusses the negative consequences of summer break between poor kids and wealthy kids. Parents take note. There is no significant difference in the rankings of these children or their ability to learn during regular school term. However, in a study of Baltimore City school children from first to fifth grade, during summer break, “The reading scores of the poor kids go up by .26 points. When it comes to reading skills, poor kids learn nothing when school is not in session. The reading scores of the rich kids, by contrast, go up by a whopping 52.49 points.” The teachers and schools are doing their jobs. “Virtually all of the advantages that wealthy students have over poor students is the result of differences in the way privileged kids learn while they are not in school.”
According to Gladwell we are so attached to the myths of the best, the brightest or the self-made that we ignore that which is most basic, giving those who need it a chance.
He also gives insight into his own family tree going back to Jamaica.
For more, visit Gadwell.com.
