“...Successes are far more likely to come from wealthier families.” This quote from Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell goes hand in hand with another controversial quote in the same book. “Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from.” Every human comes from some background, we all have parents and a birth-town, as well as an income we grew up living off of. Yet do these background have a significant influence on the course of our lives? Outliers focuses on how we become successful; how luck and hard work, as well as unchangeable circumstances contribute to the long path to achieve this success. Although your background pays a crutial role in life, I believe that anyone can overcome struggles given to them and change the “norm” of their community. …show more content…
Wealthier families can afford better schooling and even private tutors. Of course this can lead to one wealthy student being more successful than a more poverty ridden student. If a student is in smaller class sizes and gets more one-on-one teaching, that student can understand topics better than a student in a class with 50 other pupils. Wealthier families can afford one-on-one private coaching sessions for sports, thus making their child better at said sport. Wealthier families can afford something like good healthcare, leading their children not to miss school due to illnesses. Wealthier families lead their children to “learn a sense of ‘entitlement’”(Gladwell 105). Wealthier families are wealthier, they can do more for their child as far as money is concerned. Who we are can be based on where we’re from. Growing up with the same set of morals and same conditions as those around us can lead to a generalisation of us all. If your mother grew up with no strong parent figure, she could carry on the same neglect while raising you and so on. If everyone you grow up around doesn’t attend school regularly, this can influence you to not attend school regularly. But does your background matter that
Chapter 6 of Matthew Gladwell’s book Outliers, there are illustrations of many family feuds. While the feuds were horrific, they were indicative of pattern which existed within the Appalachian Mountains and surrounding areas. The region was seemingly plagued by a “culture of honor” (p. 167). Because of the ancestral heritage of the “Scotch Irish”, these mountaineers were willing to fight at the slightest challenge to their reputation (p. 167). This behavior results from the need to survive, and is strengthened by the clannish ways of the people. This inevitable violent way of life is correlated to the number of murders in the South, and the implication is these murders are personal, in the same way family feuds were in previous years. Moreover
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.
In the number one National Bestselling book, “Outliers- The Story of Success”, by Malcolm Gladwell, he conveys a message to the readers that our societies views of success are flawed. What do you think of when you think about “successful people”? I am sure a few words came to mind- rich, famous, accomplished, smart. An outlier is defined in the book as “something that is situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body” (Gladwell 3). An example would be the red apple we see on the back of this book.
Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, believes that working at something for 10,000 hours is required to achieve mastery and become a world class expert at anything. While this is a nice way of making it seem like anyone can be successful, it is simply not true. Some people will never achieve proficiency in a domain, no matter how much practice they put into it. There are a variety of factors that play into expertise besides practice and certain domains require much less practice than the magical 10,000 hour threshold that Gladwell established.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a book analyzing the traits and characteristics of the most successful people in human history, hence the title Outliers as it examines those who have stood out dramatically in society. Born in Fareham, Hampshire, England in 1963, Malcolm moved to Ontario, Canada at the age of six and spent his remaining developmental years in the country (Dphiffer). After graduating from Trinity College in Toronto in 1984, Malcolm began work for the Washington Post in 1987 where he stayed until 1996. Since then, Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer for The New Yorker, and in addition to Outliers he has also written two more New York Times best-sellers, and is highly regarded in the field of journalism and writing. He has received numerous accolades for his work including being named one of the top 100 most influential people by Time Magazine, along
In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell attempts to prove that success is based on more factors than the general public believes. While hard work is important to the prospering of the very successful, the sheer circumstances presented to those individuals gave them a far greater chance of success than their peers. Through the use of statistical analysis, very well organized writing, and many quoted authority figures, Gladwell exemplifies his phenomenon very clearly with little ambiguity.
Prompt: Write an essay that defends or challenges or qualifies Gladwell’s assertion that “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and you use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires” (Gladwell 151).
Success has been pondered over for centuries. How does one gain success? Is it worked for or is it only designated for a special few? Looking past the multitude of self help books that have been written, many like Malcolm Gladwell have begun to consider factors beyond just “working for it” as a contributor to success. One of these factors are cultural legacies. Though it is true that cultural legacies can be extremely powerful and that we should acknowledge them when considering someone’s success, it should be evident that the extent of power culture has is less than what Gladwell proposes. The place someone originated from has extremely influential effects on how that person thinks and acts, and in turn how they gain their success. The culture they grew up with becomes deeply rooted in their minds and results in different thought processes that shape the mindset they have while developing into an individual. However, Gladwell overestimates how powerful
What exactly is an Outlier? Malcolm Gladwell explains to his readers in "Outliers" that an Outlier are "men and women who do things out of the ordinary." Gladwell explains to us that an in order to become successful, there are many factors that can lead to it including birth dates, community and culture, and legacy. He doesn't entirely believe that you can achieve success just from individual merit and hard work but that it takes the environment around you and opportunity to become successful. In the contrary, Gladwell writes a whole chapter titled, "The 10,000-Hour Rule" which he explains that it takes ten thousand hours of practice to become successful in something. Then he mentions that it opportunity plays a part in this success, when speaking about The Beetles, and how they were giving an opportunity to play at a club for about ten thousand hours. If it wasn't for this opportunity that was given to The Beetles, Gladwell believes that they wouldn't be as who they are now and would have never been as successful and wealthy as they are now. Gladwell claims that social and economic background can determine whether or not a individual will succeed. This claim is false becaus a person who is wealthy can not be as successful as one who is not wealthy.
In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers he argues that outliers, people who have achieved success almost entirely by their own means through perseverance and hard work, are not possible. Gladwell claims instead that people achieve success primarily through the opportunities they are born with or are presented with throughout their life.
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.
The novel Outliers, aims to investigate the very thing we want for our family, our students, and ourselves. For most of our lives we have believed that with hard work, anyone can achieve success. That had to be the reason that poor immigrants like Andrew Carnegie and college dropouts like Bill Gates achieved unimaginable wealth. Most of us were taught that working harder than anyone else would lead to ultimate success.
In the book, Outliers, the Story of Success, Malcom Gladwell discusses “outliers” and uses many examples of success. This book expresses the many ways in which “outliers” are different from the “ordinary.” Gladwell explores the factors that influence and help people in their journeys to success. The factors expressed in this book include: their culture, family/parents, their background, and especially their personal experiences that have had major impacts on their life. Gladwell stresses that it’s not only about a person’s hard work for the success, but also about the things that helped them to grow and succeed in the first place. He uses many examples of people who are considered to be outliers and their stories of success and what helped them achieve that success.
Social inequality stems from many facets of life and mindsets reproduced continuously in America. The main backbone of systematic inequality is formed off of race, gender and class, which all contain crucial aspects that further oppress those subjected to inequality in various aspects of life. The resources-schools, occupations, invested parents- around one fuels the opportunity in their lives, a concept highlighted by Malcom Gladwell, in his book, Outliers. Situations one are brought up in or uncontrollable genetic aspects can very easily restrain their opportunities. Racial discrimination, gender roles and inferiority and the lack of fluidity in the low and working class push inequality, which simultaneously influencing the rich and privileged.
On the other hand, the wealthy people are able to keep climbing the social ladder because they can afford to be successful, and in turn their children will also become successful due to their parents social status.