The Truth About Geniuses, Part 2

       Malcolm Gladwell ends the idea that success is only determined by your IQ. In the beginning of the chapter Gladwell starts to go in to detail about Chris Langan's background. Chris Langan is genius with an IQ of 195. He goes on to explain how Langan was offered two scholarships, one to Reed College in Oregon and another to the University of Chicago. He chose Reed but he later believed it was a huge mistake. Chris Langan ended up losing the scholarship because of his mother forgot to fill out the financial statements. He dropped out of college and found himself working factory jobs and minor civil service positions. Reading this made me a little mad because why would a college simply take away a scholarship from someone without contacting them? Further on in the chapter, Gladwell tells us a story about another genius, Robert Oppenheimer. He went to Harvard and then to Cambridge University to pursue a doctorate physics. He had a tutor named, Patrick Blackett, was forcing him to attend "the minutiae of experimental physics, which [Oppenheimer] hated," (98). Oppenheimer was struggling with depression his entire life and he became even more emotionally unstable. One day he took chemicals from the lab and attempted to poison his tutor. The university was informed and put him on probation. Now when I read this I honestly thought this was a little funny but I was also confused. Why would they put him on probation? He obviously attempted to kill another human being. At first I wasn't seeing the connection between Oppenheimer and Langan until we reached part 3 of the chapter. Gladwell begins to address the difference between "practical knowledge" and "analytical knowledge". The difference between the two is that Robert Oppenheimer "possessed the savvy that allowed him to get what he wanted from the world," (100) where as Chris Langan did not. Although he did try to kill someone, he was able to get people to listen to his ideas.
      I became even more interested when Gladwell brought up the that practical intelligence comes from out families. The experiment presented in the chapter was conducted by a sociologist named Annette Lareau. She picked 12 different families that were both black and white, also from both rich and poor families. She saw that the children from wealthier parents were more engaged in their children's time. The children would have many activities they were involved in and their parents would always ask them about their teachers and coaches. The poor children didn't have the same intensive scheduling. The wealthier parents intervened on their children behalf and taught their kids to speak up. This shows the difference between the Oppenheimer and Langan. Although both are geniuses, one possessed the skill that allowed him to negotiate to get his way. From his childhood Chris Langan learned "distrust, authority and be independent" (110). He didn't learn how to speak up to gain what he wanted , which caused him to be unable to put his talent up to its full potential. This chapter was very though provoking because it made me think about how something so small as what type of family your born into can determine your future. The skills you learn as a child will determine whether you will actually be successful or not. Robert Oppenheimer and Chris Langan both had really high IQ's but one has the possessed the practical knowledge that allowed him to navigate the world with his control.