Week 2

In my last post, I said that I had ordered "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell and I was waiting for it to arrive. On Monday, a package arrived ay my house and inside was my new book. I was excited! I had read a few reviews of "Outliers" and I knew it had been on the New York Times' Bestsellers List, but I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading.

To begin with, the book is Gladwell's take on what makes people successful. He takes a different approach than most people and says that it takes more than intelligence, hard work, and ambition to be successful in today's world. He goes against the well-known saying that says "you can achieve anything with hard work." Gladwell's premise is that a person's environment and background have a lot to do with their future success, or lack thereof. In his mind, a person is successful in life when they combine intelligence and ambition with a positive environment and background.

Gladwell presents some interesting points and uses the stories of people like Bill Gates and the Beatles to demonstrate his points. I'm not sure I agree with everything that he is saying, but he definitely presents some thought-provoking ideas. Interestingly, Gladwell includes one section in his book that is relevant to the world of education. Gladwell first discusses the well-known achievement gap between students from low-income backgrounds and students from high-income backgrounds. He argues that students from low-income backgrounds learn just as much in school as students from high-income backgrounds. The achievement gap, he says, results from the fact that students from high-income backgrounds continue learning during summer vacation while students from low-income backgrounds do not. Wealthier families are able to send their children to summer science camps and take trips to libraries and museums. On the other hand, children in poorer families are more likely to spend their summers playing outside or watching tv. This may not be a bad way to spend a summer, but it does not contribute to increased reading or math scores.  Gladwell provides statistics from the Baltimore school district to back his claims up. Logically, his argument makes sense, but I would like to see more research in this area. Either way, this is an extremely interesting opinion to read about for someone interested in education!

Once I start a book, I have a hard time putting it down. This past week, I almost finished reading "Outliers". I'll be finishing it early next week. Fortunately, I ordered another book by Malcolm Gladwell entitled "The Tipping Point". So, this week, I am looking forward to finishing "Outliers" and starting my next book!

Reading Log
10/10 - 12:00-12:30 am
10/11 - 1:00-1:30 am
10/12 - 12:45-1:30 am