Technology+&+Leadership+Book+Summary

//Outliers: The Story of Success// By Malcolm Gladwell By definition, an outlier is something or someone that is situated from or classed differently from a main or related body. (Gladwell, 2008) In his book, //Outliers: The Story of Success,// Gladwell seeks to put an end to the myth that successful people are self-made. Rather, he suggests that outliers “ are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” (Gladwell 2008) Part One of //Outliers// focuses on how opportunity is sometimes dependent on timing, not just hard work. Sometimes, people are born at a time that is most beneficial for them to experience success, which leads to “the kind of special opportunities that lead to further success.” (Gladwell, 2008) The Internet became public in the early 1990’s. Children born at this time had an extraordinary educational advantage over those born just a few years earlier. They were born into a world where technology was a part of their lives, not separate from it. Many students in the 21st century have access to computers at home, school, and at public libraries. Gladwell (2008) states that people who are afforded more opportunity put in more practice. Students today have more access to computer technology than their parents did when they were in school. Because of this opportunity, our children will have much more time to practice using technology. Outliers are people that have the means and opportunity to work much harder than their competition. In his book, Gladwell (2008) refers to the work of neurologist, Daniel Levitin who says that it takes ten thousand hours of practice to achieve world-class mastery of anything. Gladwell (2008) argues, “no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time.” According to Gladwell, time and opportunity play a huge role in how well you do in the world. (2008) By the time our students reach adulthood, they will have devoted much more than 10,000 hours using digital technology. Part Two of //Outliers// takes a look at the role of cultural legacy and how it affects success and failure. Gladwell (2008) states that: Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and social and demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished, and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior that we cannot make sense of our world without them. (Gladwell, 2008, p 109) Children born into a world rich with technology have the opportunity to develop a new cultural legacy. Each year, schools provide more access to technology in order to enrich curriculum. Educational use of technology has the ability to transform the lives of children in ways that we never imagined. A computer connected to the Internet gives poor students the same educational opportunities as wealthy students if they are willing to work hard. In //Outliers//, Gladwell (2008) explains why Asian students really are better at math. They come from a culture that places value on hard work and effort. The American education system operates on the principle that “effort must be balanced by rest and could not be more different from Asian notions about study and work.” (Gladwell, 2008) Gladwell describes the KIPP Academy in New York as “an organization that has succeeded by taking the idea of cultural legacies seriously.” (2008) Unlike Americans, Asian students spend more time in school with little time off. “For its poorest students, America doesn’t have a school problem. It has a summer vacation problem, and that the problem the KIPP schools set out to solve.” (Gladwell, 2008) KIPP Academy students are true outliers based on Gladwell’s definition. KIPP Academy students meet the criteria of what it takes to become an outlier: they had the good fortune to live near a KIPP Academy campus, they are committed to working hard, and they have access to educational technology that has the ability to transform their lives by connecting them to learners around the world. //Outliers: The Story of Success// takes your views of what determines success and makes you realize the importance of opportunity, hard work, and cultural legacy. Children born toward the end of the 20th century are redefining their cultural legacy through the use of technology at home and in the classroom.

Gladwell, M. (2008). //Outliers: The Secret of Success//. New York City: Little, Brown and Company Levitin, Daniel J. (2007). //This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human// //Obsession//. New York City: Plume