I find the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell to be an extremely entertaining and thought-provoking book. The way it is written is very compatible with the way my brain works. In this book, Malcolm Gladwell first explains what an Outlier is, then continues to go into more detail and explain certain Outliers. This book connects to my life in many ways. The three most important of these ways being opportunity, parenting, and hard work.
Malcolm Gladwell uses the whole first half of the book to talk about opportunity. I'm going to be slightly more specific and talk only about a few aspects of opportunity. In his first chapter he discusses the Matthew Effect (pgs. 15-34). The Matthew Effect can be explained as such, a first statement is made and is false, a process occurs with the result being that the prior statement has become true. "In the beginning, his advantage isn't so much that he is inherently better but only that he is a little older. But by the age of thirteen or fourteen, with the benefit of better coaching and all that extra practice under his belt, he really is better." (Pg.25) In this chapter he talks a lot about timing, specifically the month of year in which you were born. Based upon when you were born, you could be eligible for certain opportunities that other people, born at different times, are not. Malcolm talks about this idea again later in the book while referring to the technology revolution. "The perfect age to be in 1975, in other words, is old enough to be a part of the coming revolution but not so old that you missed it." (Pg. 65) My life has been full of opportunities which have put me in the place I'm in currently, and where I will be in the future. I was born June 30th, 1996. My opportunities haven't so much come from the month, or even the year, I was born in. However, my location has. Being born in the United States, I am a citizen and have rights. Some people can't say that. Also, being born in Guilderland has blessed me with opportunity. The education I receive at Guilderland is better than most. I have the opportunity to choose my own classes, which will directly lead to the opportunity of choosing where I want to go career wise in my life. The fact that I am a middle child has also given me opportunity. I have developed certain traits due to the fact that I am a middle child. Another opportunity was given to me when my parents split. I could either choose to live with my mom or my dad. Since they are both different people, they have different parenting styles. These different parenting styles have and will affect me in many ways because the parent forms the child.
This takes me to my next connection, parenting. Later in the book Malcolm discusses Annette Lareau's finding on studies of 3rd graders from different economic classes. In regards to lower-class parents, Malcolm writes, "They see as their responsibility to care for their children but to let them grow and develop on their own." (Pg. 104) When referring to middle-class parenting styles, Malcolm wrote, "It's an attempt to actively foster and assess a child's talents, opinions and skills." (Pg. 104) My dad has, what Malcolm defines as, a lower-class parenting style. He guides me in the right direction but allows me to make my own choices and learn from my own mistakes. My mom on the other hand parents with a style that Malcolm would refer to as middle-class parenting. She went ahead for me and attempted to expand on my talents. She did the work and set up appointments and meetings or what not. There are many by-products from these different parenting styles. "The middle-class children learn a sense of entitlement." (Pg. 105) I can say that this much is true. I can see how I have a sense of entitlement that I obtained from my Mom. I am comfortable speaking with adults and in my opinion am well mannered. I sometimes have trouble asking questions in front of a class though. Throughout the course of the book, Malcolm repeatedly brings up certain points. One of which is that upper-class children are more likely to succeed then middle and lower class children. When my parents split I chose to live with my dad. Although he has a lower-class parenting style I'd like to think I'm doing pretty well. He has always been quick to anger which is definitely a trait he has passed on. Having siblings definitely affected me and also who my parents are has also affected me. Through siblings, many opportunities were given to me. I always knew what I was getting into before I got into it, thanks to my older brother. He basically did everything I did but 2 years before me so I always had at least a general idea of what was going to happen. This helped especially during school. Since I had been socializing with my brother and sister before I went to school I had a social advantage over some of the kids in my class that were only child's'. The praying before meals and church on Sundays and religious aspect of my life was an opportunity given to me through the parents I have. Also the fact that both my parents are bilingual gave me an opportunity to learn another language, Spanish. Now that I know Spanish I can be later blessed with opportunities that my peers cannot. I can travel to Spanish speaking countries and meet people that only speak Spanish. Most people I know can only search for employment in English speaking countries but I can search for employment in both English and Spanish speaking countries. Employment shouldn't be a problem as long as I work hard.
My next and last connection is that of hard work. The hard work of Asians on rice paddies and their language has directly caused them to be better at math and more hard working, according to the words of Malcolm Gladwell. Since a majority of Asian culture is dependent on hard work and concentration, they are naturally more hard working and concentrating. Hard work definitely has a direct relationship to success. "Virtually every success story we've seen in this book so far involves someone or some group working harder than their peers." (Pg. 239) Erling Boe, an educational researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, discovered that there is a relationship between being able to concentrate/focus and being good at math. "Countries whose students are willing to concentrate and sit still long enough to focus on answering every single question in an endless questionnaire are the same countries whose students do the best job of solving math problems." (Pg. 247-48) Despite all the things I haven't done, I have always managed to keep my grades up in school. School has become a priority to me and although my dad constantly complains about me being lazy, when I get to school I know it's not the time or place to be lazy. The hard work through my many years in school has definitely been worth it. I'm currently in honors classes and am hoping to take A.P. U.S. History next year. The more hard work I put in, the more opportunities will be given or available to me later. High School opens the doors to College and College opens the doors to a profession. Since a profession is something you're going to have to stick with or at least have for the majority of your life, unless you're lucky, I think it's important for me and for everyone to be happy with their profession and that it be a good profession. I have always been habitually focused on school and the hard work has definitely placed me ahead of most of my peers.
I very much enjoyed reading the book Outliers. It was a very enjoyable and well written book. When comparing this book to my life there are certainly many connections. Malcolm's ideas or writings about hard work and parenting connect to my life. Also, the most important or interesting one to me, opportunity definitely connects to my life.
