Outlier: the Story of Success is a book written by Malcolm Gladwell, which deals with the factors that enabled ones' success. In the first chapter, the author insists the importance of environmental and background factor for success; the example he gives is the composition of Canadian hockey league. He says that in the hockey league, the number of players who were born in January, February, and March was significantly more than that of those who were born in other months, and that of those who were born in November and December the least. This seem to be a coincidence at first glance, but the author says that there exists a certain reason why those who were born in early months do much better than others, because the accumulation of advantages becomes more significant as time goes.
For me, it wasn't so easy to accept his thought that the accumulation of environmental factors are very important to make a success. And I think that to make a success, the combination of environmental and inherent factors are needed: it means, both environmental and inherent factors within a person are essential.
I cannot deny the fact that in even KMLA, the number of those who were born in early months (March, April, May) is larger than that of those who were born in September or November. But it is not all; those who do not work hard, even though they were born in early months, cannot survive from the competition with those who work harder.
Good to see some writing, and I hope you are reading onward and continuing to evaluate/weigh Gladwell's views.
답글삭제He's not "bang on" to the point where we want to agree with him all the time, but he gradually encourages us to look beyond factors that include hard work and being gifted.
See you in class.