Malcolm Gladwell's Outiers

Malcolm Gladwell's new book has arrived. Outliers, so far, is incredible. It aims to show how people become successful. It bases itself not on success itself, upbringing, parents, etc. The book's thesis is about the outliers ...

An early example, and one close to my career:

Hockey and soccer are just games, of course, involving a select few. But these exact same biases also show up in areas of more consequence, like education. Parents with a child born at the end of the calendar year often think about holding their child back before the start of kindergarten: it's hard for a five–year–old to keep up with a child born many months earlier. But most parents, one suspects, think that whatever disadvantage a younger child faces in kindergarten eventually goes away. But it doesn't (Galdwell, 27–28).

What do you think?


Speaking of education ... one of the best educational bloggers is David Warlick whose 2¢ Worth is excellent.