Marita's Bargain Analysis

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

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” (Malcolm X) When a student goes to high school their goal is to graduate and earn their diploma. About ninety percent of students that graduate high school after attending KIPP go to college and ten percent do not. The graduation rates of students who attended KIPP are much higher than the students who attended regular high schools in New York City. The programs in Marita’s Bargain and Kewauna’s Ambition helped students obtain a better education and changed their lives.

The author explains exactly what the professional asserts and how particular pieces of evidence relate to Gladwell’s unconventional idea of success.

students can learn feel free. They take care of their students specially who are weak

Gladwell’s use of ethos through word choice and tone throughout the five-page case in Outliers is concerned and disappointed as if in this example he is upset that his thesis is holding true. He is displaying himself as an equal to the audience, just as sad and frustrated throughout the disappointing Langan case, “That was the lesson Langan learned from his childhood: distrust authority and be independent,” (110). The pathos employed by emotional influence is strong throughout the entire discouraging case because the audience views the great potential of Langan, lost due to a lacking background. Gladwell uses short phrases to be direct with the issue which forces his audience to ponder on the information, “He’d had to make his way alone, and no one - not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses - ever makes it alone,” (115). The mental image of Langan having to persevere in harsh conditions with Gladwell’s thesis of success against him, makes the audience feel for him. Furthermore, it u9nfortunately persuades the reader that if the super genius, Chris Langan, cannot succeed because of his lacking background, then Gladwell’s thesis that success is based on factors

Gladwell describes what makes some people more successful than others. His central premise focuses on the different opportunities that people receive throughout their lives and how those people use the opportunities to their advantage or disadvantage. Gladwell describes this theory as the Matthew Effect:

In his article “Go Year-Round: A Push for True Summer School”, Milton Chen, the executive director of Edutopia, urges readers to use the year-round schooling system. He explains in brief words what the summer vacation was for. “…when farm families needed young people home during the summer months to replace the three R's with the two P's -- plantin' and pickin' " (Chen). He carries on discussing that the problem with the school days is not only the amount, but the schedule of the school day. The curriculum is too tight; neither the students nor the teachers have the time to step away from the books and text and learn from the outside. The students do not have the chance to go into the outside world and observe what is going on in the society that they live in. Additionally, the teachers do not have the chance to decide how their time is spent because it is spent on the strict schedule of the classroom.

Gladwell does not present the actual outcome. As Kakutani describes Gladwell's suggested evidence through her article "glib, poorly reasoned and thoroughly unconvincing."  Though Marita’s story, Gladwell describes Marita's chances of becoming successful to be greater than other who are not a part of the KIPP program. Though her chances were greater Gladwell never addresses if Marita actually became successful or not he just suggests that she is. Another example of suggestion is when he compared Alex's chances of becoming successful verses Katie's chances. Gladwell suggests that since Alex grew up in a more successful household he would be successful. But Gladwell never presents that information. There is a chance that Katie became a neurosurgeon and all Alex became was a gas station manager. Due to Gladwell's lack of fully addressing his evidence, it's hard to fully understand what all it takes to be a successful individual. The unknown of whether or not each of these individuals ultimately became successful leaves Gladwell’s agrument unreliable.

Martia is a 12 year old that's on the poor side of the story. Marita got a Opportunity to go to a KIPP school a school that turns losers into winners, so she took it. Marita begins telling her story: “ I wake up at five-forty-a.m to get a headstart… I leave school at five p.m…Start my homework.And if it's not a lot of homework that day, it will take me two to three hours” (264). She does that every day, Marita has got an opportunity and is making the best out of it working her hardest. “Her community does not give her what she needs. So what does she have to do? Give up her evenings and weekends and friends.” (266). Gladwell says referring to Marita. Marita has really committed herself to the KIPP school and to her work. You see with one chance and opportunity that usually wealthy kids get, the poor girl, Marita made something out of it. If poor and wealthy kids get the same amount of opportunities and wouldn't be such a gap in test scores between the

Anaheim High School, a beautiful campus filled with intelligent students all around. You may tell yourself that but do we really have some of the best grades? Anaheim has too many days off for vacation and not enough school time for students to learn. In order to increase student success at Anaheim, we should have longer class periods so that students understand the material without having to be rushed and start class earlier or extend school release time until 3:30 or 4:00 pm. In the article, “Marita’s Bargain" by Malcolm Gladwell, he states, “The day goes from seven twenty-five until five pm” (9). Students at KIPP Academy are starting their classes at seven twenty-five and get out of class at five pm. They are getting longer classes which allows them to focus on their academics without having to be rushed to move onto the next topic. Anaheim High School is struggling with students being rushed and not understanding the

The question Gladwell asks seems so simple, but it gets the reader to pause and think. People can relate to it in many situations, so it is personal for each person. Gladwell also uses analogies to make his points come across. For example, when relating successful people to growing trees, “The tallest oak in the forest is the tallest not just because it grew from the hardiest acorn; it is the tallest also because no other trees blocked its sunlight, the soil around it was deep and rich, no rabbit chewed through its bark as a sapling, and no lumberjack cut it down before it matured. We all know that successful people come from hardy seeds.

KIPP is a public middle school that strives for amazing academic conduct and success by holding its students to an unimaginable lofty standard. It becomes pretty much the most enticing school in New York City, in a massive piece because of how much achievement KIPP has pursued triumph from it low-income students who end up going to college in massive numbers. Gladwell then begins talking about history of education in the Unites States and says that in simple contradiction to the artistic tradition of rice agriculture in Asian countries, education reformers from previous times said that children not to get to much schooling. Furthermore, the recent is a Western estate focused on the type of agriculture there. So, while rice paddies can be planted a number of times a year, wheat and corn fields go through a schedule of harvesting and

There are many ways KIPP academy benefits students. One of the many reasons how KIPP Academy benefits students is in the KIPP school program seventh graders started taking high school algebra.84% of students test at or above a grade level in 8th grade

Though Gladwell is correct in telling us that opportunity is a key component to success, his emphasis on the importance of opportunity and less on a person’s own individuality and character traits, is absurd.

At Anaheim High School some students seem to always complain of being tired from the night before doing homework late some due to not understanding, others did not have enough time. Teachers as well as parents seem to always go the extra mile to help students with their learning problems but sometimes it is difficult. Therefore, in order to increase student success at Anaheim High School student have a thinking skills class. In “Marita’s Bargain” by Gladwell stated “They all do a course call thinking skills until seven fifty-five” (9). This quote is important because it tells you they start the day off by waking up the brain with this first class which gives them more time to ask questions and have a better understanding on subjects. Another