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Outcasts United by Allison Bekas “One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.” ~ Euripedes We all have family troubles, disagreements, and sorrows, but it seems they came in abundance for those on the Fugees soccer team. They were a group of foreigners, outcasts, who all shared a common passion: soccer. They have seen the horrors of war and they are left with nothing when they come to America. They form an unlikely team and are confronted with the problems of finding a home field, buying uniforms, and staying away from teenage violence.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell examines the lives of people who have achieved greatness in the world, to find out what makes them achieve greatness. Are there “secrets" and what we can learn from these outliers in order to become successful ourselves. Gladwell challenges our usual thoughts that the self-made man will succeed and proposes his own theory of how ordinary people become successful. While the book makes for an entertaining read, but not every argument of his is water-tight. In today’s society, a majority of people have come to think that the building blocks of success are within the personality and character of the individual.
Pod Cast Malcom Gladwell is author of Outliers The story of success. Gladwell speaks on success how circumstances may out come your success but that may not be that case. Tony Robbins a motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist. Robbins doesn’t see circumstances as a determined factor.
The definition of an outlier is someone who stands apart from others of his or her group, as by differing behavior, beliefs, or religious practices. Gladwell’s novel revolves around the idea that being an outlier can be beneficial to one’s potential prosperity. Gladwell’s theory checked out when a Canadian psychologist named Roger Barnsley discovered relative age when he and his wife attended a Medicine Hat Tigers hockey game. While looking at the roster, they realized that a majority of the player’s birthdays were in January, February, and March. They then researched other hockey teams and found the same pattern, even for teams with young children.
The idea of success is viewed differently between the minds of individuals, but through all lenses reaching happiness is key. Defining the word success, Bob Dylan once wrote: “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, she examines the hardships and challenges brought to her family as she grows up living an impoverished life. She depicts both of her parents’ flaws as she ages and begins to understand life from a more mature point of view.
Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea of 10,000 hours rule in his best sell book “Outliers”. The idea is that 10,000 hours of appropriately guided practice was “ the magic number of greatness ” regardless of a person’s natural aptitude. With enough practice anyone could achieve a level of proficiency that would rival that of a professional, so it was just a matter of putting in the time to become profession in one field. However, there are many people and articles criticize this theory. The article written by Maia Szalavitz which published in the Time magazine and the article written by Eric Levenson both argue about the 10,000 hour rule by using different opinions, but the one on the Time magazine use more academic and scientific tone to criticize the idea, so this article gives a more rigorous feeling to the reader.
In the book the author starts off talking about a hockey player rise to the top sport in Canada. Canadian hockey is bias; thousands of people play the sport at a novice level before they even start kindergarten. Multiple different players succeed because they perform well, and the reason for their success is their ability and performance in the sport while other kids can buy their way in. The author then asks us the questions “Is this really the case for their success or are there other factors involved.” This is a book about Outliers and how men and women who do things out of the ordinary.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown, and Company, 2008. Gast, Leon, et al.
Argumentative Essay What if the phrase “practice makes perfect” wasn’t actually true? Malcolm Gladwell claims that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to perfect a skill, however, some people are starting to believe that may not be the case. “Your Genes Don’t Fit. Why 10,000 Hours of Practice, Won’t Make You an Expert”, argues that mastering a skill requires innate abilities along with practice.
Intrinsic factors critically considered when people think about the main components of success. However, Malcolm Gladwell, a famous writer, contradicts this tendency through the book, Outliers. The book, Outliers insists that extrinsic factors define success rather than the intrinsic ones. Nonetheless, Gladwell himself goes against the topic of Outliers in his assertion: “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires (Gladwell, 2008).” The assertion implies that individuals could achieve success only with those intrinsic factors.
In a country that promotes the ideas of grit, innovation, resourcefulness, and growth, I find it curious that American universities are still using standardized tests as an indicator of future success in college. Although standardized tests are only one factor in admissions to many colleges, they should not be used at all because they do not accurately predict the success of students in higher educational environments. Instead of using the SAT and ACT, admissions officers should put more weight on written essays, cumulative high school grade point average, extracurriculars, and letters of recommendation when deciding admissions. Although some may argue that the SAT and ACT offer a way of ranking students without factoring in grade point average, their ability to predict the future success of college students has not been demonstrated.
The Lonely Outcasts John Steinbeck displays the theme of loneliness in the novella Of Mice And Men through the outcasts; a cripple, a colored man, and a woman. People judge Crooks based on his skin tone, making him resentful and hesitant towards everyone. Candy realizes that because he is crippled he won’t be able to work for much longer, but if he does not work, Candy will not have any family or friends to turn to. As a result of a protective husband, Curley’s wife is lonely because her husband threatens to fight anyone who tries to talk to her. Crooks is a colored man whom is constantly judged by a harsh society.
The Vulnerability of Belonging We have all felt a sense of belonging, we have also all felt the feeling of being extremely alone, we are all human, and we all have those emotions. But why? According to Brene Brown presenter of a TED Talk entitled “The Power of Vulnerability” it is just that. Vulnerability.
Outliers: The Story of Success Writing about Reading Defense of Passages In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell challenges those who assume hard work is the only path to success. “It is not the brightest who succeed. Nor is success simply the sum of decisions and efforts we make on our behalf.” Gladwell states that success can happen through a series of different factors.
When you belong you feel better about yourself and you do not stress so much. It gives you a reason to be happy and have a more supportive attitude toward things. Belonging can improve your health and happiness in numerous
