David and Goliath is the story of a young shepherd whom lacking of any kind of combat training, managed to overcome a giant, who was sophisticated in combat tactics, just using his wit. In modern times, that act is used as an analogy to compare people who against all odds overcome a difficult situation in their lives. As a result, Malcolm Gladwell used it as a starting point of his book “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.” Gladwell’s book tells the story of people, whom as David, overcome difficult situations, Goliath, and become successful, even though all the odds were against them. Therefore, Chapter 2 of Gladwell’s book studies the effects of smaller and bigger classes in countries all around the world, …show more content…
That is not always true. It is true that that living in poverty and trying to make ends meet, and raising children at the same time can be tough, especially when you are a single working parent (Gladwell). The truth is that having money does not always make people good parents. Furthermore, Gladwell says that parents success sort of overwhelm their children. In fact, in some cases, parents have worked hard during their whole life, and become successful because they “learned the long and hard way about the value of money and the meaning of work and the joy and fulfillment that come from making your way into the world.” Sadly, that is a lesson hard to teach when having …show more content…
These children do not have to go through everything they parents went through to be successful. They do not know the meaning of working hard, setting goals and achieve those goals. So these kids end up losing their goals and sense of self-worth, Gladwell says.
Another point is about schools. Nowadays, schools are spending a lot of money on infrastructure and equipment with the pretext of being on the top of education, implying they have what children need in order to be successful. Furthermore, the author uses the example of Hotchkiss, a school of Lakeville, Connecticut. Gladwell says that this school “it is considered one of the premier private boarding schools in the United States,” with a cost of tuition of $50,000 per year. He also mentions that this school “spares no expense in the education of its students,” and its average class size is 12 students.
For a lot of parents, this is great, since most of them want a good education for their children. Therefore, if they have the money to afford such expensive school they will not have second thoughts of registering their children. However, according to the author, the school is just making its students worse off. The reason the school is doing this because is not interest in the children’s future, “it is thinking of the parents of its students, who see things like golf courses and Steinway pianos and small classes as evidence that their
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is one of the most renowned dystopian novels and still regarded as one of the most influential novels up until this day. The journey of the protagonist, Winston Smith, a compelling story of the struggle to find his own intuitive idea of what the world is supposed to be like and the ability to preserve it. The fight of ideology between Winston and The Party is one would describe as somewhat similar to the battle between David and Goliath. Through Winston’s experiences in a totalitarian society. It can be said that an individual cannot make any significant changes because of the total control of education by the government, The Party’s mission is to search and destroy and books that are collected from the
The likely hood that a “poor black kid” will survive plight conditions is beyond the means of their hard work. That is why DNLee’s, “If I Were a Wealthy White Suburbanite”, response to “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” by Gene Marks is strongly accurate. DNLee uses Cinderella as an analogy to further bolster her point. Just as Cinderella’s heinous stepmother and stepsisters make it nearly impossible to attend the ball, disparity makes it nearly impossible for a poor black kid to achieve a prosperous life. “Working hard is important; but let’s not be naïve.”(DNLee 265) It does not matter how much of a hard worker a person is because there are more challenging factors that lead to obtaining a successful life.
According to Lenkowsky Shipler seems to put blame on a lack of income for the reason why kids in families have corrosive relationships now and into the future. Developing mental and physical disabilities because they are poor it gives them less room for error thus developing these disabilities. The outlining reason children develop these issues is when you’re poor children are more likely to be prone to sexual abuse and this makes it harder for them to have families of their own and creates a feeling of helplessness. Added to this, in the book it explains that underfunded and poorly staffed schools also contribute to the underlying problem that children of the working poor face. Lenkowsky points out however, that this isn’t always the case for example Leary Brock who was a rape victim, drug addict, high-school dropout, and single parent was able to pull herself out of poverty. She was given a second chance an opportunity to take a job training instead of going to jail and went through with it and came out working for a company. It seems a strong family can cope or even pull through poverty to live happier lives but takes will power and
The story of David and Goliath can be thought of as a timeless tale of
The Christian hero David has stood as an inspiration for numerous artists coming from a diverse set of backgrounds, as his story influences theses individuals in wanting to honor him by using him as an idea for their works. The basic story is David was a shepherd boy who lived in Israel. God chose David to take care of the Jewish people. The Philistine army was fighting the Israelis. A giant, Goliath, was part of the Philistine army and the Israelis were terrified of him. David was a young boy – not part of the army – but who was nearby. He saw how Goliath taunted and mocked the Israeli soldiers and he got angry. David volunteered to fight the giant. Not being a soldier, David wasn’t familiar with armor or weapons, and refused both. He went with his simple tunic and slingshot. David felt that his people were in the right and God would protect him – justice would prevail in spite of the weapons that the Philistine giant had. With one shot of his sling, he got a stone to pierce Goliath’s head, the giant collapsed, and David then took Goliath’s sword and cut off the giant’s head (Italian Renaissance).
I will explore how social classes frankly appear and build up the story of the book by comparing and contrast with a modern social hierarchy. Today, we’re living in a society with social classes existing. We can be classified in different classes and so do I. I wish I could designate my social status, but unfortunately, our social classes are usually determined by wealth (income), occupation, education and prestige. Social class can be shown in a pyramid structure and it usually comprises with upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, working class and lower class.
In chapter five of David and Goliath, Gladwell shows how through a tragic event or a difficult situation in life can help us to persevere and ultimately achieve success. Gladwell uses the example of the prediction of the German during the bombing in the Second World War against London, and tells us that contrary to the prediction of the German; Good things can arise from negative events. According to some studies, there are different results that can come from bombing; the first result is the direct impact, where those affected die, the second is the near missed, where people hide during the bombing, cannot believe what is happening and can be injured, and the third is the remote misses where the affected give thanks
Ravitch, Diane. “Charter Schools Are a Colossal Mistake. Here’s Why.” AlterNet. 2 Oct 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
Otherwise, why now the parents spend a lot of money to send their children to a good school to study, because the school education environment to the children’s influence is very important. When Wes A moved to Bronx, his mother had made a decision to send her children to private school after her seeing how poor the public school system had become, so she worked multiple jobs to manage the cost and relied on her parents to take care the children before and after school while at work. “My mother decided soon after our move to the Bronx that I was not going to public school. She wasn’t a snob, she was scared.”(47) Because she knew, if the children are growth of a bad education environment, the children of the world to know nature will be distorted. Without a good education, there is also no habits; No good sense, and also there will be some bad behavior. Today, the rate of crime is high; almost all can find the root cause of their growth environment. Maybe the lack of discipline, discouraged by mistake friends or too much stress, but all shows the importance of good education environment for children to grow
If people work hard, focus, and are disciplined, they will succeed in the future. This has become a universal idea taught by parents, teachers, and peers. People have passed down this idea to the younger generations and they chose to live by this moral that makes sense. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell debunks the universal idea that working hard will allow people to play hard and get further in life. Gladwell eliminates the traditional ideas of success by showing that opportunities, family background, and being born at the “right” time are actually what lead to success.
In How Children Succeed, Paul Tough attempts to unravel what he identifies to be, “some of the most pervasive mysteries of life: Who succeeds and who fails? Why do some children thrive while others lose their way? And what can any of us do to steer an individual child – or a whole generation of children – away from failure and toward success?” (Tough, 2012). Children are born into environments of varying circumstances, good and bad, influencing their development. Through direct encounters with researchers, educators and children of different environments, Paul Tough approaches his questions by ex...
Everyday students attend school, but not every single student attends the same type of school nor do they receive the same type of education. This thought may be very concerning to some, but for others, this is all too much a reality. For example, some may ask how is it possible that students in public schools that are located within the same state somehow receive a different education; the answer is simple. The concept of quality is a factor that can hinder or facilitate anything, especially ones education. The difference between a public school education in a particular town compared to another is its demographic. Some students are fortunate enough to be afforded the opportunity to attend school systems that perform well, while others do not have the privilege to do the same. Something as simple as a couple of miles can be the difference, the difference that makes some feel entitled to certain things such as higher education while others can only hope to appreciate a secondary or trade school education. Therefore, education is not a right rather a privilege, and the level of quality is contingent upon the environment wherein the learning takes place. The immense importance of environment is self-evident in examples
Growing up in one of the most developed nations in the world, the United States of America allows for opportunity for an individual to become successful and prosper financially. American sociologist, C. Wright Mills, argued that power was held within most of the individuals in the political, military and corporate sectors. After watching the film Inequality for All, my perspective on social inequality has influenced my perspective on social class.
The writing style of an author plays a giant role in expressing certain details and letting the reader become more drawn into the piece of literature. In the story summary David and Goliath, which we get from the first book of Samuel chapter seventeen verses one through fifty eight. This popular bible story expresses how a young and weak teenage boy named David can take down a giant with name of Goliath with faith in God. The use of different elements used throughout the summary such as diction, imagery, and language gives off hopeful feel because the main point of the story is for the reader to understand that anything is possible with God.
... much from their kids and the child feels they can’t achieve to their parents’ expectation, then it causes them to have a negative look at school, academics and left with no motivation to do well.