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Have you read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell?
Posted on 01. Jul, 2009 by Kelly in Blog
This is the same author who wrote Blink and the Tipping Point, both really interesting books. This latest book is based on a theme that it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert at something and that you need a particular set of circumstances to be really successful. Basically, be in the right place at the right time with the right set of characteristics.
He has a really interesting view on education. If it takes 10,000 to become an expert, then the country that brings more education faster to its students is going to be more successful. He then compares our corn growing based culture with rice growing cultures. In a corn growing culture we have one main crop; we work really hard for 6-8 months a year, but basically take 3-4 months off. In a rice-growing community they have three harvests a year, they work every day, all day, every day of the year. It’s no surprise that rice growing cultures have their kids in school most of the year. The idea of taking three months off from learning/working is just alien. In a corn growing culture though, taking the summer off is normal, it’s expected, it’s a time to relax.
My children have been on summer vacation for the past two weeks. I keep thinking about how they are playing X-box, texting their friends and doing nominal chores while others kids in this global economy are studying math and science. How those kids are getting closer to their 10,000 hours faster than my kids. That just by the circumstances of the culture they were born in determines how much they learn in a year.
I have this nagging feeling my kids are missing out. Read the book, or just read the section on education. It’s very thought provoking.
