Gladwell's Argument In Outliers

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

By definition, success is a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity. How an individual reaches the point of success is “not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky- but all critical to making them who they are” (285). Throughout the book, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, the pieces of the secret to success are put together. Three parts of success include pure luck, the amount of time and effort put into working to achieve your goal and where you come from.

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

Vince Lombardi, a great American football coach, and player, once stated that the “dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success”. According to Lombardi, hard work will get you to where you want to go, and many people would agree. In Malcolm Gladwell’s novel, “Outliers: The Story of Success,” secrets and misconceptions about success are exposed and explained. Gladwell was right in saying that “if you work hard enough and assert yourself...you can shape the world to your desires”, as evidenced by examples from the book itself, the successful career of Serena Williams, and my own personal story (Gladwell 151).

Gladwell makes his case with educational examples. In discussing the importance of birth dates, for instance, he borrows from the work of Canadian psychologist Roger Barnsley to show the impact of “relative age.” Gladwell uses examples from sports, including the birth dates of soccer players in a recent junior world championship tournament. Gladwell goes on to argue that relative age is just as important in schooling, noting that in countries like the United States, where ability grouping begins in early childhood, students who are among the oldest in their grade will begin the school year more advanced than students who are among the youngest. He claims these older students are then placed in higher-level ability groups, thus beginning a cycle of cumulative advantage and more opportunities for achievement and success. He provides Denmark as a counterexample, where, based on national policy, ability grouping does not begin until age ten, noting that the impact of relative age on success and achievement in school is nearly unheard of there. The narrative of The Other Wes Moore becomes more personal by discussing two particular people, who started off with similar backgrounds and then had two extremely different fates. This perspective means that Gladwell will be primarily seeking people who have already reached

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.

“The Matthew Effect” in Gladwell’s Outliers is an assessment on the reasons of high levels of success. “The Matthew Effect” Is the observations of successful people who have gain more while people who lack something find it harder to achieve. It describes people who already have reputation are often positioned in situations where they gain more recognition and those that do not have reputation usually struggle to accomplish more. In addition, children who gain reading skills early as a result, find other areas of education easier to understand compared to the children who do not gain reading skills in an early age.

“No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.” -Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

The Story is split into two different parts, timing and cultural legacies. For part one, the example that was clearly reliant on timing was birth year. Gladwell is talking about the age of technology and the men that help form that when he states, “The perfect age to be in 1975, in other words, and is old enough to be a part of a revolution but not so old that you missed it” (Gladwell 65). To further expand his quote, the ideal years to be born in were 1953-56. He goes on to support his intellectual find with strong evidence stating that men such as Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, and Eric Schmidt had been born in those years.

Gladwell presents a strong argument for “concerted cultivation” in comparison to natural growth in his book Outliers. "The Trouble With Geniuses,” chapter two of Outliers He introduces us to new groups of “Outliers” which fall into the category of genius. In this essay I will define purpose, voice, audience and context used in the chapters describing the troubles related to geniuses.

Gladwell uses the example of basketball like he mentioned in the previous chapters. This new basketball analogy has to do with height of the players. According to Gladwell, “Once the basketball player is tall enough, then we start to care about speed and court sense and agility and ball-handling skills and shooting touch.” (Outliers. Pg.

In the passage Gladwell talks about how there is a pattern and it is quite clear but no one seems to recognize it but that has to do with the fact that unless someone does the research or has read his book. People won’t and don’t notice the pattern as much as he thinks they would. Gladwell is blaming and once again calling people out on how themselves and society doesn’t give the people and place any credit. In the passage Gladwell states “Their success was not just of their own making. It was a product of the world in which they grew up” and I truly believe he is not giving them enough credit. However they did have some advantages based on when they were born and where they grew up, nevertheless they did have to put in some hard work. Gladwell

Although Gladwell's Outliers has been criticized for drawing generalizations from a "flimsy selection of colorful anecdotes and stories," and his argument borders "social predestination," according to the New York Times, Gladwell's conclusions do provoke a lot of thought and self-reflection. If you look at the reasons why you're a successful writer, you may find it was due more to circumstance, practice, and upbringing than any gift you were imbued with from

For instance, some people have extraordinary series of opportunities that can bring them at the right place and at the right time; their luck plays a big role. For example, when Gladwell mentions the best hockey players, their key to succeeding in hockey was not simply because they were the best player, but they were born in months like, January, February, March, or April. These months are crucial, because eligibility cutoff is January 1. So if a boy is born January 2, he could most likely play with someone who will not turn the same age, until the end of the year. Therefore their physical maturity level is greater, and because of that they get more preparation. Gladwell asserts that, “In the beginning, his advantage

Gladwell believes that each individual is responsible for his or her own goals. He explains different factors that gain high quality of success. One of these factors is Luck. In the book he gave an example of why professional hockey and soccer players were chosen to be hockey and soccer players and why some of professional hockey and soccer players are born in the specific months such as January, February and March. He believes that these players were