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Socio economic status and academic achievement
Socio economic status and academic achievement
Connection between socio-economic status and academic performance
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Talent is overrated, no one who is successful did it overnight, that is fact, however, the discrepancies begin on the why. Many claims were made and thoroughly supported by Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers: The Story Of Success” and “The Struggle to Be First: First-Gen Students May Be Torn Between College and Home” by Alina Tugend. The factors that are believed to be attribute to success are social class standards, the educational level of a family, and practical intelligence.
Malcolm Gladwell claims that success is achieved through social class, the parents education level and practical intelligence by using two naturally intelligent men and their lives as examples.Robert oppenheimer was raised in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Manhattan.
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His childhood was the embodiment of concerted cultivation. Oppenheimer handled the challenges of his life so brilliantly because he has seen, firsthand, what it means to negotiate your way out of a tight spot. Chris Langan, by contrast, had only the bleakness of Bozeman, and a home dominated by an angry, drunken stepfather.
That was the lesson Langan learned from his childhood: distrust authority and be independent. (Gladwell 45, 46)Due to Oppenheimer's family background and education, he gained a social savvy called practical intelligence, a particular skill that allows you to talk your way out of a murder rap (Oppenheimer), or convince your professor to move you from the morning to the afternoon section (Lagand). Practical intelligence includes things like ”knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.“ (Gladwell 41)Chris Langan only attended a year and a half of college, due to admission errors and lack of advocacy. However, he has written many unpublished physics papers. “I am a guy who has a year and a half of college,” he says, with a …show more content…
shrug. “And at some point this will come to the attention of the editor, as he is going to take the paper and send it off to the referees, and these referees are going to try and look me up, and they are not going to find me. And they are going to say, This guy has a year and a half of college. How can he know what he's talking about?”. (Gladwell 38) The main factor that oppenheimer possessed and Lagnad did not was this sense of entitlement that allowed him to advocate for himself. Oppenheimer at a point of his life tried to poison his tutor and was placed on probation while Lagand stopped going to college because his suspension blew out. (Gladwell 50) Oppenheimer knew what to say in order to make things work for him, Lagand simply accepted them. Therefore, in order to be successful, according to Gladwell, one must be able to push through. If I as a highschool senior wanted to know more about a specific college, I must email said college and ask for what I need, not just simply accept defeat. Advocacy is an important trait for success that is built up through privilege, education and intelligence. Gladwell's claims are supported by Alina Tugend in “The Struggle to Be First: First-Gen Students May Be Torn Between College and Home” Alina Tugend claims success, in the image of college, can be a result of your background by her analysis of varied first generation students. Gladwell mentions that the heavily scheduled middle class child is exposed to a constantly shifting set of experiences.(Gladwell 42) Tugend talks about Ledezma’s experience, which is not unusual for first-generation students—those students whose parents didn’t attend college (Tugend 3). Social class gives first-generation students a framework to understand how their own backgrounds matter in college, what unique obstacles they may face, and [to] see that people like them can be successful(Tugend 12) Generally speaking, the more selective the college, the higher the graduation rate. Schools that are open to virtually all students have a graduation rate of 34.1 percent; those with an acceptance rate of less than 25 percent report a graduation rate of 88.9 percent. First-generation students, even more than poor and low-income students, have “significantly lower levels of social involvement, lower levels of academic involvement, even after taking into account background differences” . Tugend creates a claim of the factors in which impend first generation students to attend college of which is centered on social class, school you attend and by their social savvy. Tugend mention a first generation student named Gabriela Ledezma, a first generation student that attended berkley at the protest of her parents. She felt much difficulty with her lack of prior knowledge. Such as my own brother who attended georgetown on a full scholarship for a year and then lost 3,000 because of not filling out the FAFSA correctly, he wasn't prepared for college since no one was there to teach him. In summation, without the proper upbringing, first generation students have a poor chance of success through college. Curiously, both of the authors make claims about education and background as a support of success. Gladwell and Tugend both connect the main point of family background as preparation of succes.
Gladwell mentions that the heavily scheduled middle class child is exposed to a constantly shifting set of experiences.(Gladwell 42) Tugend talks about Ledezma’s experience, which is not unusual for first-generation students—those students whose parents didn’t attend college (Tugend 3). According to Gladwell, middle-class students learn teamwork and how to cope in highly structured settings. They are taught how to interact comfortably with adults, and to speak up when she needs to. In his words, they learn a sense of “entitlement.” By contrast, the working-class and poor children are reliant only on themselves. (Gladwell 43) Tugend connects families by describing the mixed messages they receive from home and friends. Parents express both pride that their child will excel and fear that they’ll evolve into someone the family no longer recognize(Tugend 1). Gladwell and Tugend both make claims that if your are raised in an environment of intellect and privilege, you are better prepared for life in college and the road to success. Privilege directly influences your social and collegiate
manner. Factors that are believed to be attribute to success are social class standards, the educational level of a family, and practical intelligence. In comparison to my own life, I am lower class and first generation but I have learned practical intelligence from my mother. I will continue to ask and fight for what I want. I realized that I was not ready so I prepared myself, I have applied to 14 colleges with very little help, instead I studied for hours on end. A goal I am working towards now is my dream of being in the Crossfit Games. My mentor is OJ Washington, a past participant who is teaching me better technique and giving me the resources to practice. I used my practical intelligence to ask him to take me in, and continue to use it when I study and work out everyday. I realized what I need to do to be productive, I know the factors that would impede that, but I will not let them.
“People don't rise from nothing....It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't”(Gladwell 18).
In the second chapter of his book “Outliers: The Story of Success,” Malcolm Gladwell introduces what he believes to be a key ingredient in the recipe for success: practice. The number of hours he says one must practice to obtain expert-level proficiency in a particular skill is ten thousand hours. He goes on to list several examples of successful individuals and makes the correlation between the amount of hours they practiced their skill and when they achieved expert-level proficiency (almost always around ten thousand hours of practice). While the magic number appears to be the main focus of the chapter when it comes to success, Gladwell seems to put more emphasis on the advantage and opportunities each individual experienced. However, I believe the determining factor that distinguished their successful careers was their drive, passion and dedication to put in the hours necessary to turn those unique opportunities into success.
Malcolm Gladwell, in the nonfiction book Outliers, claims that success stems from where you come from, and to find that you must look beyond the individual. Malcolm Gladwell develops and supports his claim by defining an outlier, then providing an example of how Stewart Wolf looked beyond the individual, and finally by giving the purpose of the book Outliers as a whole. Gladwell’s purpose is to explain the extenuating circumstances that allowed one group of people to become outliers in order to inform readers on how to be successful. The author writes in a serious and factual tone for the average person in society of both genders and all ethnicities who wants to become successful in life.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that there is no such thing as a self-made man, and that success is only the result of a person’s circumstances. However, throughout the novel Gladwell points out that your circumstances and opportunities only help you become successful if you are willing to take advantage of them and work hard. From a twelve year old living in the Bronx, to those who were born at just the right time to become millionaires, one thing is the same throughout; these people because successful because they seized the opportunities they were given. The advantages and opportunities that came from their circumstances would not be important if they had not grasped them. Every successful man is self made, because he has seized the
What would happen if our world today was monotonous, sorrowful, and grey? What if no one was here to form new creations, and think of bold ideas? Would triumph have a definition? Would there be outliers in our world today? We are constantly thinking, always generating new ideas and forming new thoughts. People even proceed by creating inventions, and building objects no one would of thought would be made today. But, what we don’t perceive is how they became successful and how they took advantage of the moment that was given to them. In the novel, Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, the author explains that an outlier is one who is given an opportunity and knows how to take advantage. He believes that in order for a person to be successful they need at least ten thousand hours of hard work and effort in order to succeed at a skill. It is clear to me that like Malcolm Gladwell, I believe
In “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell organizes his argument for their being a rule for overall success by showing statistics of people who are defined as being successful such as Bill Gates, Billy Joy, and The Beatles. He also uses a Berlin music academy to help prove his rule. He presents an argument that Bill Gates and The Beatles and the violinist attending the music academy may have been born with innate talent but that is not the sole ...
Gladwell gives differing definitions of intelligence. Yet his definition of success is singular—"worldly" success in terms of wealth, power, and fame. Are there also differing definitions of success that Gladwell doesn't consider? If so, what are they, and what does it take to achieve those versions of success? What is your definition of success, and how does it compare to Gladwell’s? Has your definition of success changed at all?
Once in a while, it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to. Gladwell believes that cultural legacies are powerful forces. Cultural legacies are the customs of a family or a group of people, that is inherited through the generations. According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, Cultural legacies is something that’s been passed down for generations to generations. It depends on what type of legacies was passed that will affect a person. If a good legacy was passed down, someone can keep that legacy going by trying hard at keeping the legacies going. If a bad legacy was passed down; I believe that cultural legacies can be altered or changed, by good working habits, determination, and a positive mindset to succeed. Culture can affect either positively or negatively, but we have the power to turn our cultural
Malcolm Gladwell makes many debatable claims in his book “The Outliers”. One of these controversial topics is brought up in chapter three when he talks about a person’s IQ and how that relates to one’s success. Gladwell says, “The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point. Once someone has reached an IQ of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage.”After reading “Outliers” I believe that this is the greatest controversial topic. I agree with Malcolm Gladwell because there are a high amount of people who are not incredibly smart that are very successful, success can be viewed differently by different people, and from my own experiences on the U-High
Malcolm Gladwell’s overall purpose of Outliers: The Story of Success is that success is largely determined by an individual’s socioeconomic and sociocultural environment, and individual ambition, effort, or talent, are less significant, contrary to the societal notions associated with success. In other words, success is not something that someone randomly gained; success is earned through opportunities that develop dedication, interest, and skill over time. By doing this, will one become an outlier, or “something that is situated away or classed differently from a main or related body,” (Gladwell 3) that distinguishes great from good and best from great, as exemplified by “The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that the and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals”, musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did.” (Gladwell 39) Gladwell also acknowledges societal norms such that “All of the fourteen men and woman on the list above had vision and talent,” (Gladwell 62-63) to assert hard work, ability, et cetera can lead to success, but a social environment that offers such opportunities immensely increases the likelihood of success.
Social class should not be used to define a person. Every person has the ability to overcome the roadblocks that society has placed in their path, so long as they have the determination and motivation. In Gerald Graff’s article, “Hidden Intellectualism” , he explains how social class is irrelevant when it comes to education, despite what society will lead you to believe. He displays how everyone is intelligent in his or her own way.Lynda Barry during her article, “ The Sanctuary of School” spoke about the importance of education to her and many other students like her.Another writer, Mike Rose shows how despite the thoughts that society puts in our heads we can still be successful in his article “Blue Collar Brilliance”.Regardless of social
For generations, only certain people have achieved success - they are known as geniuses or outliers; however, they did not obtain it on high IQs and innate talents alone. In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell, #1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink, reveals the transparent secret of success behind every genius that made it big. Intertwined with that, Gladwell builds a convincing implication that the story behind the success of all geniuses is that they were born at the right place, at the right time and took advantage of it. To convey the importance of the outlier’s fortunate circumstances to his readers, he expresses a respective, colloquial tone when examining their lives. Gladwell begins his examination of an outlier’s
Being born into this class made it easy for me to pursue an education. Someone who is of less means has to overcome poverty to gain access to good education and technology. This does not mean that I did not have to work hard for the things I have, I just have to recognize that these things were simply more accessible to me. In Jamie Utt’s article , So You Call Yourself an Ally: 10 Things All ‘Allies’ Need to Know, he lists the things that we as privileged people who call ourselves “allies” of a certain marginalized group, need to do more of, he also address certain issues and conversations that need to be either altered or stopped altogether. In order to to break the cycle of oppression, it is important that we recognize the power we have and remember that what do with our privilege has an impacts others lives. We can choose to push back against your privilege and to use it in a way that challenges oppressive systems instead of perpetuating them. As Jamie Utt notes, “And in the end, part of the privilege of your identity is that you have a choice about whether or not to resist oppression.”(Utt,
In Chapter 8 and 9 of Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell exams some of the ways that Asian and American students learn math, arguing that some of the principles in the US education system should be reconsidered. I generally agree with Gladwell’s point of view. I believe in two ways, students ' principal spirit and the length of students’ studying, the US education system leaves much to be desired, though an overhaul is in progress.
Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor” (Drew et al., 2002).