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Becoming successful is something most people strive to achieve, but what if your birth date could in some cases help you have a higher chance of becoming successful. In the novel ‘The Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell, he explains the story of success about people he refers to as the ‘Outliers’. An Outlier he states is “Men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are so puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August.” Many of these Outliers strived towards success much easier because they were born in a certain month or certain year and in this novel, Gladwell explains why this is.
‘The Matthew Effect,’ this is a reference is a verse in the book of Matthew in the Bible that can be summarized as those who have much will get even more, while those who have little will lose even that small amount. Gladwell directs the attention to a 2007 roster for the Medicine Hat Tigers, an elite Canadian youth hockey team. He tells us that Roger Barnsley, a Canadian Psychologist, looked at this roster and noticed that an overwhelming number of players were born in January, February, or March. Gladwell gives us an explanation for this strange phenomenon: the cutoff
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Gladwell states that many of these Outliers, for example, hockey players are so successful because they were born in January, February, and March, which I think is a false statement. To be an Outliers is shouldn't matter when you were born or how rich or how smart you are at a young age. Young hockey players shouldn't have to get it in their heads that if they aren't born in those three months then they won't be as successful as those who are. As long as they try their hardest and strive towards their goals then who knows, they could become more successful than the kid born in January get that 'special
I found Gladwell’s first chapter of Outliers entitled “The Matthew Effect” to be both interesting, confusing, and perhaps somewhat lopsided. Based on Matthew 25:2, Gladwell simply explains, “It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given to the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.” (Gladwell 2008, pg. 30) The Matthew Effect seems to extend special advantages and opportunities to some simply based on their date of birth.
In “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell organizes his argument for their being a rule for overall success by showing statistics of people who are defined as being successful such as Bill Gates, Billy Joy, and The Beatles. He also uses a Berlin music academy to help prove his rule. He presents an argument that Bill Gates and The Beatles and the violinist attending the music academy may have been born with innate talent but that is not the sole ...
I am not convinced that because one is born at the beginning of the year that one is going to be more successful than one who is not. I can be convinced more easily that one’s environment has undue influence on one’s home life but not one’s birth date. There are multiple factors that allow for success that include study, training, encouragement, rest, etc. However, in the context of Gladwell’s book Outliers and the points he made, I believe Outliers is good science because he seems to be challenging that Outliers are not so uniquely
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, gives the definition of an outlier to be “something that is situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body” (3). While he does supply this definition he never specifies what he defines as success. Using his numerous examples of what Gladwell considers to a successful person, it is safe to conclude that his definition would be – success is a mixture of opportunity, intelligence, and hard work. When these three characteristics are combined it equals great success, and cannot be reached with only one or two of these things, all three must be present. Gladwell presents multiple instances where these three qualities contribute to an individual’s success.
For example, Gladwell examines trends in the rosters of the elite Canadian Hockey League, finding that the majority of players were born in January, February, or March. Comparing these dates to the cutoff date for each age division, January 1, Gladwell proves that birthdates impact success, as the majority of hockey players who were older in each age division became successful because of maturing earlier than their younger peers in their age division. In terms of redshirting, Gladwell’s theory implies that a student who enters kindergarten one year older than the rest of their classmates will have a better chance of success due to earlier
The popular saying “practice makes perfect” has been used for many years encouraging younger generations to strive for success in whatever area they wish to excel in. Success is something everybody in society strides for but some do not know how it is achieved. However, there are many people throughout history who are known for achieving success in many areas. Malcolm Gladwell, a best selling author and speaker, identifies these people as being outliers. Gladwell identifies the word “outlier” in his story Outliers as “a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience.” Although Malcolm Gladwell does not establish credibility for himself in his novel, his targeted audience of a younger inexperienced generation feel the need to be informed by his detailed theories about becoming successful and eventually becoming an outlier. Although the reality of becoming successful can depend on instances one can not control, Gladwell tells his readers there is a great portion they can control through his theory, the 10,000 hour rule. He does this by using well presented logical persuasive appeals and interesting rhetorical devices such as: onomatopeias, exposition, and argumentation.
“People don't rise from nothing....It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't”(Gladwell 18).
Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers is an extremely informative read about success and the different aspects that attribute to it. Gladwell is able to use many studies and sources that back up his theories of how success is achieved. Although he is biased towards his theories, the only real argument that can be made in opposition to his theories would be a debate over exceptions to the 10,000 Hour Rule. Outliers ultimately has a positive effect on the audience by making them more aware of their own chances at success and how if they may be lacking in one area (education, opportunity, creativity) all hope is not lost. Gladwell’s piece is essentially timeless and will be able to be applied to future generations because he used examples from a few different eras that still make sense to today.
Outliers-The Story of Success is a sociological, and psychological non-fiction book, which discusses success, and the driving reasons behind why some people are significantly more successful than others. Malcolm Gladwell explains this by dividing the book into two parts, opportunity and legacy. Opportunity discusses how select people are fortunate enough to be born between the months of January through March, and also includes the idea that those who are already successful will have more opportunities to improve and become even more successful. The 10,000-hour rule proves the idea that in order to become successful in a certain skill, one must have practiced that skill for at least 10,000 hours. In addition to the 10,000-hour rule, timing is also a major component that implies being in the right place at the right time, which brings the author to discuss Bill Gates who was born during the time where programming and computer technology was emerging, therefore sparking his interest in computers, later bringing him to create Microsoft. Another point Gladwell brings forth is the notion of one’s upbringing, race, and ethnicity can be a factor behind their success. And lastly, pursuing meaningful work will cause one to continue working with their skill and not give up. Legacy is a collection of examples that support the idea: values are passed down from generation to generation, which may cause a certain group of people to be more persistent in a skill, or occupation.
If people work hard, focus, and are disciplined, they will succeed in the future. This has become a universal idea taught by parents, teachers, and peers. People have passed down this idea to the younger generations and they chose to live by this moral that makes sense. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell debunks the universal idea that working hard will allow people to play hard and get further in life. Gladwell eliminates the traditional ideas of success by showing that opportunities, family background, and being born at the “right” time are actually what lead to success.
In Chapter 8 and 9 of Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell exams some of the ways that Asian and American students learn math, arguing that some of the principles in the US education system should be reconsidered. I generally agree with Gladwell’s point of view. I believe in two ways, students ' principal spirit and the length of students’ studying, the US education system leaves much to be desired, though an overhaul is in progress.
After reading the introduction in the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I was struck by some interesting information and noticed things within the introduction that were relevant to my life. In the introduction, Gladwell basically gave a summary of a town called Roseto. He went on to explain that the people that lived in Roseto never died of heart dieses and other illnesses because of the way their community grew up. The information was very intriguing. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell states, “For men over sixty-five, the death rate from disease in Roseto was roughly half that of the United States as a whole” (Gladwell 7). This information within the book was highly shocking to me. How could this be possible? I continued reading, and the shocking statement was better explained. As the introduction continued, Malcolm Galdwell said, “The Rosetans were healthy because of where they were from, because of the world they had created for themselves in their tiny little town in the hills” (Gladwell 9). When reading this, I was flabbergasted. How did how one lives have anything to do with ones health? It was striking to me because I never connected life style to health. After reading the introduction, the information taught me that how one lives does result in how one’s health and life span may be. After reading the introduction, some of the information seemed relevant to my life. Malcolm Gladwell exclaimed, “They looked at how the Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards” (Gladwell 9). This is relevant to my life because I grow up in very conservative and close knit family. Like the citizens of Roseto, I live differently than the normal teenagers ...
Einstein was not always an extremely successful man and he had difficulties that would have prevented anyone else from succeeding, but eventually, several of his theories led to scientific advancements. One theory earned him a Nobel Prize, in physics one a PhD and another helped in the development of nuclear fission. If a person were only to take a quick glance at his life without a deeper investigation, they would find it difficult to discover the catalyst that led to his success. However, with the tools Gladwell provides his readers it does become obvious what led to Einstein’s life of success. Gladwell argues that a person needs to devote time to practice their craft; he calls this the “10,000-hour rule” (Gladwell 35). They must also have opportunity to succeed, as well as intelligence; they must at least be, smart enough to do so. He also claims that they must have been born at just the right time for success, too early or too late is a failure; he calls this the “Matthew Effect” (Gladwell 15). Gladwell even goes so far as to say that where they are born has a significant impact on their success; this he calls “demographic luck” (Gladwell 129). These tools provided by Gladwell to identify an outlier can explain if Albert Einstein is truly an outlier.
In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell analyzes numerous success stories in an attempt to understand the circumstances that make certain individuals particularly exceptional. Through his analysis, Gladwell strives to find an explanation for why some people succeed, while others, despite their persistent efforts, do not. He questions the validity of conventional attitudes towards accomplished figures—that these figures simply rise to fame as a result of sheer talent and ambition—and points out that the superficial summaries leave out crucial details. As Gladwell studies the lives of these “outliers,” from piano virtuosos to software moguls, he indicates that their success stemmed from a variety of components, including fortunate
Of course, I have no statistics or extensive anecdotes to champion my point like Gladwell, and most of my evidences sprouts from what meager experience I had in the short span of 19 years. Yet some aspects of my life can be explained by the notions presented in the Outliers. My earliest memory of success is still vivid because it surprised everyone – except my parents who groundlessly and adamantly believed that one day their son would catch up. It was in my fourth year of elementary school and I received three 100’s and one 88 on the final exam of four subjects. I was ranked third in the grade. It was a minutia compared to success of Bill Gates and Billy Joy, but it is kind of important to me. Yet this picayune success was more a combination of circumstance, some hard work, and a hint of innate factor. First things first, my success surprised everyone because for the first three years of my school life, everyone thought I was retarded – literally. The “Matthew effect” was the culprit behind my first few years of “retardedness.” The Matthew effect was in fact an established fact among South Koreans long before it was called the Matthew effect. Kids born in December, January and February would be likely to lag behind their classmates in terms of academics in first few years of elementary schools. Oddly enough, South Korea is one of the only three countries where school year starts in March. To make matters even more flummoxing, it also has a weird system of letting students born in January or February to move up one grade. So I was born in February 1996 and I began school in 2001 with children born in 1995 – the oldest kids of the same class would be born in 1995 March. I was equivalent to a hockey player born in December, and the circumstance did play a huge role in my first three years of school. I was the smallest in my class for three