Xavier Diep

English III

Mr. Guina

Outliers

1. The idea that Gladwell is setting up through talking about the Rosetans and the
Canadian youth hockey players in the first chapter is that they had to work for what they
wanted based on different factors that can happen. For example, the Rosetans were
immigrants that came from nothing and had to work hard to get where they wanted to
be. What made them so hard working with great health was where they lived along with
its culture and social structure. The Canadian youth hockey players had to work hard
just to get looked at to play at the next level as some players had an advantage based
on the month they were born.

2. The significance of the 10,000-hour rule is that if you spend 10,000 hours on a skill you
will master it. Bill Joy was a computer programmer that had unlimited access to a
computer center in college, and he spent most of his free time programming. When the
Beatles were still in high school, they got a contract to perform seven nights a week for
several hours a day which helped them become better musicians. Bill Gates started
programming in eighth grade as he had access to a computer at a young age when
others at his age did not. In all three cases, they all had more access, resources, and
opportunity to perfect their skills.

3. Annette Lareau’s study was where she looked at a bunch of third graders and what their
families were like. The concerted cultivation is the middle-class parenting style where
they try to foster and assess a child’s talents, opinions, and skills. The parents are more
involved in their lives and the children have busy schedules going from one practice
activity to the next. The accomplishment of natural growth is in regards to the poorer
parents and their parenting styles. Their kids tended to be better behaved, more
creative, and independent. In the environment that you grow up in when talking about
class, those in the concerted cultivation have an advantage because they have been
taught to have a sense of entitlement.

4. A life story that we can learn from Chris Langan is that we should never give up no
matter how poor or low we are in life. However, sometimes the environment we are
raised in doesn’t always allow us to be successful. In “The Trouble with Geniuses Part 2”
it talked about how Chris came from a low-income family and how he didn’t have all the
resources for him to be successful even though he had a high IQ. The way Langan was
raised, he created distrust in authority. Without a family background that encouraged
success, IQ alone didn’t make him successful. Others with high IQs that came from
upper-class families such as Oppenheimer (he was discussed in the chapter) had the
 opportunity to be successful because he had more advantages and a family that helped
him a lot.

5. In regards to the “three lessons of Joe Flom” Gladwell identifies how Flom found
meaningful work with a law firm that helped prepare him for future cases that would grow
the business. He came from a poor background and was Jewish. He was lucky that the
law firm hired him despite his background. Flom’s disadvantages helped contribute to his
success.

6. The language-related theory that Gladwell offers to explain the proclivity of Asians for
math is that the Chinese language makes it easier to learn math, especially at an early
age. When dealing with numbers it is easier for a Chinese student to memorize 1-20
than an American student. This is because Chinese words for numbers are way shorter
than what the American students learn for the English words in math. Also, the Chinese
symbols make the people that learn them have an advantage in math.

7. His discussion of rice farming relates to the 10,000-hour rule because rice has been
cultivated for thousands of years in China. The 10,000-hour rule is applied here because
each farmer works a lifetime on rice so it would rack up way more than 10,000 hours. It
is difficult yet meaningful work and requires time dedication and problem-solving. The
more complex a farmer works to optimize his rice fields, the more paddy that will be
produced.

8. The proof that Gladwell uses has to do with how the wealthy kids have more access to
resources such as books, camps, and special classes they can take over the summer.
The poor kids don’t have books lying around the house that they can read if they get
bored over the summer. The wealthy kids often have higher reading scores when they
come back after any break. The poor kids may outlearn rich kids during the school year
because they have access to the resources at the school. However, the poor kids fall
behind during the summer or any other long break due to a lack of resources.

9. What Gladwell is trying to say is that in the beginning you are an outlier but as time goes
on you will fit in as you learn or master a skill. For example, it talks about plane crashes
and what it did to a particular airline company. The company took that to heart and tried
to improve and now is with the rest of the companies or even the top one because it just
took time for them to learn the skill on how to improve. One’s success is not necessarily
exceptional or mysterious but just might have an advantage or luck over another.

10. The story that caught my attention the most was the chapter about rice paddies and
math tests. This caught my attention because I am Asian. It really taught me why Asians
are so much smarter than others, and it is not just a myth as they do have an advantage
at an early age with learning to count. Also, I learned a lot about the rice paddies, and
how time-consuming it is. I wanted to learn more about this because I have always
heard rice came from China, but I never knew how it was made.