Friday, December 30, 2016
The Mathew Effect
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, he discusses the different points of views of success and how it can have different meanings based on the person, their experience, and their ability to succeed. In Chapter 1, The Matthew Effect, Gladwell talks about how birthdays and opportunity are related to success by using the prime example of hockey players and how many of the players have birthdays around a specific time period. Gladwell presented us with the roster of the 2007 Medicine Hat Tigers where Canadian psychologist, Roger Barnsley, noticed that most of the teammates had birthdays between January-March. However, there is an explanation for why the birthdates are so close and related to success. In Canada, it is known that join age-class hockey you have to sign up by January 1st and you have to be 10 years old by that time. This relates to success because this is a method of selecting and hindering other children from succeeding just as much as those who are selected to be on the hockey team. By only accepting those that were born between January-March, although unconsciously, leaves out the kids who were born outside of that range and have to join the worst teams, and not get the best training from the best hockey coaches. However, those who were chosen to join the age-class hockey and go on to be a part of the Major Junior League A which is the most prestigious league in Canada and determines who makes it to the National League or even the Olympics. In the chapter, Gladwell refers this example of success to the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament, “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath” (Gladwell 30), which translates to: people who are successful in life have better opportunities than those who are not. This also relates to education and how everyone deserves the best system of education and the same one. I chose this short story because even if you are gifted or not, young children should not be sought out and categorized by who’s the best and who sucks, they deserve more than that.
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I completely agree with you, Zayli. From the beginning, Gladwell offers several stories that are popularized in today's society and how indifferent we are to these situations. In sports, a child's life is already predetermined from the moment that they are born in order for them to become successful, which inevitably excludes those born later in the same year. I feel as if Gladwell chose this short story to reveal our mishaps when we look at these successful people and how popular they are yet we choose to ignore their background and how others were excluded so that a certain group would become successful, while we deem the others who are not, mediocre.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm Gladwell makes an argument that a person who is successful at a particular sport may have something to do with an outlier that is not necessarily related to skill. He uses the example of the 2007 Medicine Hat Tigers to show how player birthdates/ eligibility/ cutoff dates may have affected their success. He shows us in the book how most of the top players of this team were born before July. Gladwell shows us that those there were born in the beginning of the year have a better chance of success because they get to train more and cutoff dates for the junior league in Canada is January 1st, so the children have to be 10 by that time. I agree with you Zayli, that young children should not be categorized on who's good and who's not that good. They are just children and they deserve more than just being placed in box. By being born from January- March, children are predetermined for success because of their early birth. I also agree with Kevin on the fact that this ideology excludes those children who are born later the same year.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Zayli. Throughout the book, Gladwell points out keys to success despite how unfair they are. The example of cut off dates show that children shouldn't be taught from an early age that they are better than anyone. Those who end up on hockey teams doesn't make them more talented than players born later in the year. I didn't realize how much little things like cut off dates can affect someone's success. Kid's should be able to play regardless of their birth month. The cut off date should be replaced with a minimum age to ensure that kids can express their talent without being at a disadvantage.
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