Malcolm Gladwell makes many debatable claims in his book “The Outliers”. One of these controversial topics is brought up in chapter three when he talks about a person’s IQ and how that relates to one’s success. After reading “Outliers” I believe that this is the most controversial topic. I agree with Malcolm Gladwell because there are a lot of people who are not really smart that are very successful, success can be viewed differently by different people, and by my own experiences on the U-High soccer team. There are tons of people in our world today who have become very successful and these people find success in different ways. Some people work hard their whole life to achieve success and others just seem to be born talented in …show more content…
To someone who wants to be an expert in a certain field that a Termite was also in would consider that person extremely successful. However, somebody who is aspiring to become a professional football or soccer player would look at them and say, “Who cares?”. They would look at a famous football or soccer player and see them as incredibly successful. This is because every person has their own definition of success that is specific to themselves and it is based around their hopes and desires in their own life. In fact for some of these people who’s definition of success is something that doesn't require a high IQ, they can be successful in their own eyes while having a lower IQ. For example, Lebron James, debatably the best, most successful player that the NBA has ever seen, went straight from high school to the NBA, skipping college. Someone who I define as successful is my father. My dad was born in Springfield Illinois, the youngest of four children. His parents both worked but they did not live comfortably. The house that they lived in was cramped and but he liked it. Tom worked hard in high school and college, double majoring in business and technology. Now he works in a managing position at state farm and makes enough money to easily support himself and his family of three kids and a wife. I define him as successful because he has a good job, a good family, and he is happy with where he is at life. That is because those are things that I aspire to have at some point in my
Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, a novel depicting success, provides different examples of how an individual can achieve success in every chapter of his book to show his audience that success, despite a variety of barriers, is in fact in our control. A very important chapter titled, “Marita's Bargain”, explains the flaws in today’s public school systems. He shows the problems with the solutions to fix them while showing the alternatives to the regular system such as the KIPP Program in New York. The KIPP Program (Knowledge is Power Program) is a new kind of middle school that selects students from less fortunate locations and uses unique teaching strategies to turn them around into fantastic learners. In the chapter, Gladwell is extremely descriptive by using visual words to paint the picture of the South Bronx in New York City. He describes the buildings that were built in the 1960’s as squat and bleak looking. Gladwell had an interest in this subject as it involves success, however he had no prior experiences to produce the piece. Gladwell establishes personal credibility through the use of knowledge, reason, and facts and figures. He comes across very knowledgeable on the subject presenting great data with excellent vocabulary. He is able to do this with no obvious bias as well. Gladwell shows authority because he is well known for writing novels that involve success. His intention is to teach and explain how schools need to change the length of vacation breaks
The outlier is not an outlier at all because countless influences factor into success. Success is not a measure of innate talent; it is a measure of the opportunities one has been given and how one has made use of those opportunities. The fact that success is something that must be consciously strived for has helped me to understand that I am only as intelligent as I am willing to be. I cannot blame my failures on the idea that my peers were born smarter or more athletic. They are simply more
In many instances, those who are successful are made out to be some sort of separate breed, those who were innately able to perform remarkable feats that others, no matter how hard they tried, simply could not. Through this exhibition, many people view success as an elusive feature that only a select few can obtain. This theory is the main inspiration for Malcolm Gladwell’s exploration of success in Outliers: The Story of Success. In the book, Gladwell analyzes not only those who are successful, such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, J.R. Oppenheimer, and Joe Flom, but what path led them towards becoming exceptionally skilled. This extremely in-depth analysis of successfulness forms Gladwell’s layered theory of what creates success, and his attempt
When I think of wildly successful people, people like Michelle Obama and Steve Jobs come to mind; my name usually does not appear on the list. Granted, I have not invented anything of use to the general public, or dedicated my life to any worthy cause, nor am I making oodles of money by anyone’s standards. But in other ways, am I not as successful as them? I have (generally) earned good grades, I have great friends, I am hardworking and independent, and I have skills that many people do not have. However, in the same vein, how much of my success can I really claim as my own? Just like Malcolm Gladwell observed in his book Outliers, there is always a lot more to success than there appears to be—and as I found out in the course of analyzing
Gladwell’s book Outliers is the most interesting book I have ever read. I say that because of the ideas that are presented and the way that he presents those ideas. He uses stories with characters to get the ball rolling of what he was to talk about. He then uses other books, professionals, and experiments to provide reasoning for his ideas. The chapter that I especially liked, and that I thought he did a good job of getting his point across in was chapter 6— “Harlan, Kentucky”. I believe in this chapter he did his best job of trying to get his point across which is, cultural background plays a bigger part in our way of living than we realize.
1.Access is a block of time to make-up work from a missed class or to obtain extra help; as a result, students are always guaranteed time with every teacher.
In Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell argues that success is not earned through talent. He states that success is obtained through forces people can not control such as luck and opportunities giving to them by others. Success is also gained through backgrounds and the year in which one is born. To support his argument Gladwell uses facts, statistics, and a few anecdotes.
In chapter three of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell discourses about IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and evidently convinced that IQs are merely digits measuring one’s intelligence that does not determine one’s chance of success. Gladwell describes the Termites, an experimental group created by Professor Lewis Terman, as having phenomenal intelligence, who unfortunately ended up earning incomes that are “not that good” (pg.89). Description-less for a minority of lines about their incomes, the short sentence served a purpose for creating an important point across readers. The important point is that no matter how brilliant a person may be, he/she might not end up successful and earning great sums. By this, Gladwell is offering readers advice that one
How does one reach success? In the novel Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, the main perspective of the novel is that success does not come from an individual simply by being lucky. In fact, success roots from our history, the environment we surround ourselves in, our values, and our cultural legacy. Every human being has the option of becoming successful despite a person’s disability, or the background a person comes from. Success is a gift. Gladwell describes what outliers mean to him, “Outliers are people who have been given opportunities and have the strength and presence of mind to seize them” (Gladwell 267). Malcolm Gladwell explained that often people are categorized into different groups of talent. Naturally, the group
In the book, Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell“It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy… it’s whether our work fulfills us” People say money can’t buy happinesses, while some base what they decided to do in life off high pay. Interior Designers create and decorate a comfortable, safe and aesthetically pleasing interior (The Art Career Project). The occupation keeps growing four percent from 2014 to 2024 which is slower than average but is expected to be in demand articulated in The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also asserts one in four are self-employed. Not only do you need a bachelor's degree but also traits such as communication skills (All Art Schools). Its average pay is within the range of $40000 to $60000.
Do you have a natural born talent or know anyone with a gift or talent? Some people believe that if you do not practice that talent you will not reach your ultimate success and you will not be as successful as you can be. In the story, Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell he reveals the true definition of success by researching various groups of people ranging from different ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and family culture and their path to success and how they got there. Everyone’s story of success wasn’t the same, and that was his main objective in writing this book to show society that everyone has the chance to succeed or fail regardless of your situation in life. Although many people may believe that having talent is
Success is an effective word that society uses to define what set of achievements an individual creates for themselves. Based on society, success is one’s ability, intelligence, and how gifted an individual is. However, In “Outliers The Story of Success” Malcolm Gladwell argues that it does not matter if an individual is talented, smart, or driven, it does not mean that they will achieve up to their full abilities. Gladwell believes that the way to success is by an endless amount of practice, timing, and opportunity one is given and whether or not the individual sees and takes advantage of that opportunity.
In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell examines the reason why some people are anomalously more successful than others. One would normally think that success is achieved through intelligence, however Gladwell squashes that notion. Throughout his book, one sees that relying on only intelligence can sometimes be detrimental to one’s success, especially in chapters three and four, where one man (who possessed an extremely high IQ) was forced to drop out of college due to a lack of money and social skills. Gladwell argues that, while these outliers can seem to be more successful due to mere intelligence and skill, in reality, they have achieved it through a highly interlinked mix of background, practice habits, and legacy.
“No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.” -Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell argues that hard work and practice has more value than “innate talent” (Gladwell 1) in an excerpt from Chapter 2 “The 10,000-Hour Rule” of his novel Outliers: The Story of Success. Although he acknowledges that talent can be a factor in success, Gladwell believes that a person’s choice to work hard is what ultimately determines their achievements. To support this claim, he alludes to famous musicians and cites psychologists and other scientists to establish credibility, with the attempt to convince the audience that hard work overrules talent. His passage has a very clear and academic tone, making it easy for the audience to understand and not get confused.