Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell wrote Outliers in 2008 and the concept of 10,000 hours to excellence was popularized. It is not that we require an exact number of hours in order to become an expert, but we need to dedicate a huge amount of time to practice before we become experts. This holds true for virtually all things. Jerry Rice, the hall of fame receiver, was known for being the hardest worker on his team. That is true of most sports greats. They have natural talent and physical attributes, but to become truly great, they need to spend the hours- consistently over time.

Practice plus talent alone is not enough. There is an environmental aspect to greatness. Part of it is related to learning persistence, social skills and having access to opportunities. If you want to be successful at a job, you need to need to have the social skills to do so. The social skills needed to survive as a Wall Street banker are different than those you need to be a rodeo rider. A neurosurgeon has different social skills than a pediatrician. The skills you need to be an inner city police officer are different than those you need as a rural sheriff. Growing up in an environment where you learn those skills makes it easier. You can learn the skills, but it is a challenge to learn a new culture.

Further, your birthday contributes to opportunities. People who graduated from college in 2007 had a very different experience looking for jobs than those who graduated in 2009 during the great recession. Sometimes this challenge forces people to learn to be flexible and focus on skills that others are not finding profitable which will become profitable in the future. Sometimes it forces people to reside in mediocrity.

One thing that Gladwell discussed are the limitations of IQ as a determinant of success. Once IQ is above a certain point, being higher is not necessarily better. Being from a middle or upper class is what determines the success of the individual more than merely IQ. My husband, an engineer, talks about engineers in the top 90th percentile are able to produce twice that of engineers in the 50th percentile. He is not referring to just smarts, but to problem solving, persistence, and ability to juggle more things at once. To be able to analyze both the big picture and pay attention to the minutia. Not everyone can do this. Without training in how to do it, even the really good engineers do not get there.

So do we resolve to be satisfied that inner city, poverty filled areas are doomed to continue as they exist? NO. We can intervene and change trajectories. We have learned that the greater part of the achievement gap results from the summer slide. Students in well educated environments spend the summer in activities that expand their background knowledge and reinforce their learning. They have ready access to books and shown that reading is not just important but enjoyable. Students in poverty tend to be denied enriching summer experiences. They have much more limited access to books. They have to have parents set the stage, as a recent report illustrates, that emphasizes learning, schooling, and self-confidence in learning.

KIPP schools have been successful because they increase the amount of schooling and school work that students do. It would odd if students who spent 30 more days in school and 2 more hours a day at school could not out perform students who did not. It is not about technology they have access to or the uniforms they wear but the idea that learning is important. Parents who spend the time to research schools and pick the schools that would be best for their children, have children who do better than parents who do not. Parents who spend this time on selecting a school then also spend more time focusing on learning. Even if the parents cannot help their children with their school work, they can find people who can. In Educational Leadership I read recently read about a child who immigrated to this country and did not speak proficient English, nor did anyone in his family. His family did, however, belong to a community where there were proficient bilingual English speakers. They hooked this young man up with other adults from the community who could help with homework. This young man was able to be successful in school in spite of language and poverty challenges. Environment can help kids overcome challenges or can mire them. It is up to us as a community to decide which way to go.