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 Gladwells theory fits into the peoples 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 anyones 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 Gladwells 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

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 persons success as well. Gladwells book gives a detailed explanation of this factor through KIPPs 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...

…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 Bushs 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.

Beliefs and approaches that guide human behavior for establishing standards of conduct are a pathway that leads to success. It is the same struggle that I envision for myself, the personal ethics that define my conduct as a person, and the professional ethics that I plan to adhere to. I think tha my success would lie in carrying out ethical teaching or educating practices for becoming a moral educator, especially in times of modern education and globalized arena where racial disparity and cultural competency…