Outliers and Education

EDUCATION

Education: Outliers Response Paper

Success requires hard work, focus, innovation, persistence, passion, etc., and those characteristics are not even deemed important by a person to become unbeaten. The book “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell talks about outliers who are the brightest people becoming successful, not only because of their skills and capabilities but also due to the opportunities, cultural legacies, social conditions, and detailed patterns, etc. that become conducive to their success. This paper aims to reflect my heritage, identity, strengths, weaknesses, etc., through the ‘Gladwellian’ lens to highlight the extent to which Gladwell’s theory fits into the people’s definition of success.

I belong to the Christian religion, and my cultural background is that of Black origin. When Gladwell narrated the story of Joe Flom, a Jewish, whose being Jewish became an opportunity for him to become a successful lawyer in New York City, the writer told his presence in the Wall Street and being a Jewish who would not feel apologetic for being fat, smoking a cigarette and farting in public, the same attitude that the lawyers are not sorry for if they hurt anyone’s sentiments for winning a case (Gladwell, 2008).

I believe that my being a Christian is an opportunity in itself since most of the schools in the United States cater to Christian students, of which I am one, and have most of the teachers as White ones too (Riser-Kositsky, 2019). If I want to join the education sector, it would not be a problem for me to obtain employment compared to other ethnicities, contributing to my success in the said career. However, being Black is another debate, which will be clarified in the next sections.

Similarly, as mentioned by Gladwell, the role of opportunity has a role to play in the success of outliers. For instance, Canadian Hockey League in Gladwell’s book is comprised of the youngest players in Canada who have access to more playing time and upgraded coaching for the young players, and this is the very reason that when they mature to reach the top league, they are already trained (Gladwell, 2008).

Being a Black, I am deprived of the opportunities for reaching the education sector with ease since I could be a target of racial discrimination, as people of ‘color’ have to face, I might find difficulty in gaining success for marking my place in this career (Austin et al., 2019).

It has been verified through research that early African-American educators, for example, are 50% more likely to live in poverty conditions as compared to their White colleagues since racial disparity in wage within this workforce is quite evident (Austin et al., 2019). This information implies that White people with their detailed patterns would have higher opportunities of flourishing in this sector as opportunity is stronger for the Whites, leading to lesser chances of success for the Blacks like me.

The social condition plays an integral part in a person’s success as well. Gladwell’s book gives a detailed explanation of this factor through KIPP’s math test scores in public schools by comparing the scores of low, middle, and high-class students. It was unmistakable that disadvantaged students like the low-income class did not have the same intrinsic abilities to learn the skills compared to those from privileged backgrounds (Gladwell, 2008).

They cannot portray themselves as smarter when in line with the other two categories as the school system fails the poor students. The government has not prioritized investing in poor students as those who belong to higher social classes have the power and circumstances to pay well for the school fees.

In the same way, if I have studied at a top-notch college or university and paid handsomely for the degree fee that I want to later pursue as a career, I am most likely to be getting high-standard education jobs in the mentioned sector. The achievement gap would be obvious for those who belong to a low socioeconomic class. Their social circumstances do not allow them to obtain the level of high education that the high socioeconomic status’ children are getting as they can pay for expensive schools.

This attainment gap is apparent even from the early years of a child’s education, as suggested by a cohort study conducted among the Kindergarten children belonging to low and high socioeconomic classes based upon their parents’ income and job status (Garcia & Weiss, 2017). It was learned that the students from low socioeconomic classes did not score high in reading, math, and behavioral scales of self-control and approaches to learning that encompass focus, task completion, curiosity, innovation, and persistence, etc.

As Gladwell has patently stated in the book, cultural legacy contributes to a person’s success. The book mentions an incident from Korean Air for which David Greenberg was brought in, deeming that English is the global language for aviation (Gladwell, 2008). The pilots should understand the instructions and program for flight for better flight experience and control.

The Korean cultural hierarchy had posed restrictions upon the pilots in the form of formal deterrence, familiarity, intimate, blunt and plain, etc. (Gladwell, 2008). Language and cultural barriers were the only way Greenberg could transform their relationships at work since he knew that legacies were strong in their culture and could not separate them. If Gladwell’s theory about this feature is applied to my success, then I think my educational career would be strongly affected by cultural legacy. For instance, there is a huge difference in language between Chinese and English.

The traditional Chinese culture inherits values like collectivism, hierarchy, courtesy, and good manners (Wang, 2011). These would cause a hindrance in the language acquisition of Chinese students while studying in English as a Secondary Language (ESL) class, leading to greater communication barriers for the educators. As I am a Black American, and if I teach a Chinese student in my class, maintaining these Chinese cultural legacies would determine my success in this field.

Knowledge about cultural background would be necessary if I join the teaching profession since being culturally competent in teaching is required in contemporary education to stick to the work ethics and gain better comprehension for eliminating barriers between students and teachers. This would enhance their learning, facilitate their interpretation of the second language, and help build trust between students and teachers, boosting the academic success of students belonging to other cultures.

Some interesting recent findings of opportunities and luck affect a person’s success. For instance, it has been found that CEOs born in June and July have lesser chances of becoming one than the CEOs of other birth months (Kaufman, 2018). Likewise, displaying one’s middle name initials portrays his cerebral capacities and achievements. The navigated circumstances of the most competent people have been underestimated by their chance of lick and randomness’s role in their success. The talent required for a successful career is still mandatory, without any doubt. However, the role of circumstances and chances cannot be ignored.

Personal characteristics and traits also contribute to a person’s success that is essential for exploiting the available opportunities. A study on students’ academic success depends on their personality traits like openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, etc. (Hakimi, Hejazi & Lavasani, 2011). It was revealed through statistical results that there was a 48% chance that students’ personality traits were responsible for their academic success.

Hence, it could be deduced that a person’s traits are important for their success in any field, even if they apply to me. I am friendly, which means I am open to new relations; I am an extrovert and find no problem making new social connections. These two characteristics would help me find job opportunities by meeting new people and gaining experience in the relevant field I am searching for opportunities in. I would be exposed to more chances of going near my career goals if racial discrimination for being a Black does not become an obstacle.

Employment of work ethics within my behavior would also be conducive to success. Every culture has its values and attitudes that are a formula for survival in the “raw and dangerous world” (Gladwell, 2008). According to the Matthew effect in the book, the opinion is held that those who have resources at their disposal would relatively have more chances of success than those who have lesser resources. Jeb Bush’s thinking that his hard work and work ethic made him a self-made man and brought him success are some of the values instilled in his personality and shaped his thinking through the Gladwellian lens.