ng Mrs. O’Neal AP English Language and Composition – 4 22 March 2016 The Outliers Writing about Reading Defense of Passages Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers explains other people's success by digging deep into their lives and discovering what exactly enabled them to become great. Gladwell utilizes anecdotes from many different people and deductive reasoning to support his claim that success does not come from hard work alone, but rather a combination of personal determination, opportunity, and legacy. The Outliers narrows down success by viewing it as two parts, opportunity and legacy. The author does this by examining those who fall outside of normal statistics. Rather than writing the statistical outliers off as something of another …show more content…
This principle is at the root of every successful person, and is the reason they are able to accomplish all they did. These people who achieved great things such as Bill Gates and Joe Flom were given the opportunity to consistently put time into their craft each day allowing for them to accumulate 10,00. Passage two is also important because it highlights the difference between two geographically similar countries and how the different cultures affect people’s lives. This is significant because it goes against popular belief that you can be anything you want to be, for something that is out of your control shapes your life. Lastly, passage three contrasts with passage two in that society believes that high IQ, an innate ability that is out of one’s control, is the determinant in how successful people will be. However, innate IQ only matters to a point and beyond that there is no significant difference between high IQ people and average IQ …show more content…
He develops his argument by using a personal story about Chris Langan a man with high IQ and statistics about IQ from research to prove innate intelligence doesn’t matter unless you do something with it. For instance, Langan was said to be the next “Einstein” because of his high IQ, but what people didn’t realize however was that “...additional IQ points does not seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage.” Gladwell concludes this from observing the story of Chris Langan and how he “failed” to live up to his potential of being a massive influence on the world. Gladwell proves Langan wasn’t everything he could be be because he was trying to operate on his own “Langan was smart, but he had to make his way alone, and no one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses — ever make it
Malcom Gladwell, the author of The Outliers, analyzes the factors to success based on real-life example. Through statistical facts and logical reasoning, he attempts to prove how success is more than just hard work and being intelligent. He supports his arguments with accurately calculated statistical facts to gain the trust of his audience and to work towards 2proving his points. Gladwell determines the reasons of success by comparing well-known successful people and finding commonalities between those people. Gladwell does not believe anyone can be a self-made man.
In the excerpt, Outliers: The Story of Success, the author Malcolm Gladwell supports his claim, the ten thousand hour rule, by discussing about a study from Berlin Academy, experts’ opinions, and an anecdote of Mozart. Gladwell’s evidence however, is either insufficient or faulty logic. The study of violinists from Berlin Academy is not enough to prove Gladwell’s claim. In this study, violinists were divided into three groups: the elite students, the merely good students, and the students with little potential aiming to become music teachers (11).
It's shows that he has a habit of this because in another of his works, The Tipping Point, he admitted that he was more into the idea of it that he overstated the importance. It's similar to what's happening in The Outliers because he is overstating its importance of how good it is and how success can help, yet there was no counter argument stated in his writing. Gladwell’s practice-to-succeed method didn't rely on his research but more of his own personal views. The idea that the then thousand rule can lead to success better than any idea is unreliable because the rule does not imply to everyone since it’s most likely there are individuals who can do fine with little to no practice. For example, there was a bean bag experiment in a gym class to where 8 year olds had to make the beans into the basket with one basket 2-4 ft and the other 1-3 ft while hounded by researchers .
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he uses argument as his tool to educate readers about the path to success. An argument consists of a claim, coherent and persuasive discourse, and a conclusion; Gladwell’s novel conforms to this description precisely. The author first makes his claim that successful people are not successful because of work ethic or intelligence alone, but that they are a culmination of many specific traits and rare opportunities. Outliers then holds the debate in its 9 chapters. Chapters back his claim in many ways.
Also, Gladwell uses pathos in his writing by emotionally appealing to his audience by incorporating their concerns and interests. Throughout the entire book of Outliers, Gladwell incorporates emotional influence through his word choice and his dramatic testimonies. Moreover, Gladwell uses Marita, a hard working middle-schooler in the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) in New York, applying herself and making up for the “missing ingredients” of success, as an emotional testimony when writing about people that want to interfere in their factors of success. He prefaces with a testimony from Marita herself, describing her issue and the end of having friends outside of KIPP by using strong emotional words, “Here is Marita again, in a passage that is a little short of heartbreaking,” (266). Another emotional persuasion method Gladwell uses to incorporate the audience’s concerns is his reoccurring use of children focused evidence.
The book “Outliers,” by Malcolm Gladwell takes readers on a momentous adventure of twists and turns through life's most optimistic lessons. The aspiration of the book “Outliers,’ is a reflection of how the author Gladwell would like his readers to view and glide through the journey called life. Examples given within the book help to shed light on positive lifelong learning experiences. The key question in the book “Outliers,” is what makes people who are great achievers different from regular people? ” The term “Outlier,” illustrates phenomena’s that can happen apart from what is considered to be the social norm (Gladwell, 2007).
“Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff starts off with an older argument between being book smart and street smart. Throughout the reading, Graff uses his own life experiences to critique the education system today. Points made focus on the idea of overlooking the intellectual potential of those who come across as being, “street smart”. Different authors cited in the reading to show how to accept another’s different intellectual. However, we realize that people who come across as being intellectual weren’t always labeled as that.
Seong Hyun Kim(David) ELA 11 (-- removed HTML --) Most people normally think about intrinsic factors when they consider for the main components of success. However, Malcolm Gladwell, a famous writer, contradicts this tendency through the book, Outliers. 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”.
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.
Gladwell’s Argument in Outliers Success is a concept that is constantly altered and has a different meaning from person to person. The stereotypical definition of success would be someone who has a high-paying job or is in the upper-class. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers: The Story of Success, approaches the concept of success in a different and unique way. Gladwell discusses how opportunities, cultural legacy, and hard work all coincide with each other to produce real success. He uses mostly logic and multiple unrelated anecdotes to support and provide evidence for his statements.
Having an opportunity of practical intelligence is important for achieving success because people can change the situation to their desire by using practical intelligence. Even though asserting oneself is also an important requirement to succeed by appealing with confidence, better results of asserting yourself are guaranteed through capability of practical intelligence which is the ability to knows what, when, and how to say. In chapter 4 of Outliers, practical intelligence is mentioned as a key to success. For example, there is a case of Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer in outliers that shows the importance of practical intelligence. Even though they both have high IQ, Robert Oppenheimer succeed, but Chris Langan does not.
Malcolm Gladwell insists that IQ is not the determining factor in one’s ability to achieve success because he believes that opportunity and chance play critical roles in one’s journey to achieve success. In Outliers, Gladwell includes Christopher Langan story growing up. Langan has an IQ of one ninety-five, “The average person has an IQ of one hundred… Einstein one fifty” (Gladwell 70). Langan is considered “the smartest man in America” and sometimes “the smartest man in the world”.
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.
Intellectualism is the factor of being intellect or intelligent. The idea of what it means to be educated can be interpreted many different ways by different people. Some think it’s having a 4.0 and going to Harvard, while others believe in the idea of having common sense. In the essay, “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff reflects how lack of education is viewed negatively in society. On top of that, a question also lies what it means to educated.
Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell, is an informational book regarding the intricacies of success and how it comes to fruition in individuals. Outliers has served to teach students the means of being successful and the importance of seizing opportunities as they come. Personally, Outliers has changed my views of success in numerous ways. Before reading said book, I had always assumed people who were naturally talented or had specific privileges were the only ones who could get far. However, Gladwell’s writing has informed me that anyone, if they are prepared to work hard, can reach their goals.