Discussion Guide - Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell

For the College Reading and Learning Association, One Book-One Conference, 2010

People, places, theories and events
Introduction – The Roseto Mystery
Roseto, Italy to Bangor, Pennsylvania
Part One – Opportunity	Part Two - Legacy
Chapter One – The Matthew Effect Canadian hockey players and birthdates	Chapter Six – Harlan, Kentucky The Howards and the Turners Culture of honor Experiment conducted on culture of honor at Univ. of Michigan by Cohen and Nisbett
Chapter Two – The 10,000 Rule Bill Joy – rewrote UNIX The Beatles – Hamburg, Germany Bill Gates Seventy-five all time richest people – 14 from America born between 1834 – 1840 Silicon Valley entrepreneurs –  1953 - 1956	Chapter Seven – The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes Korean Air flight 801 – August 1997 Mitigated Speech Hofstede’s Dimensions – individualism-collectivism scale Power Distance Index (PDI)
Chapter Three – The Trouble with Geniuses, Part I Christopher Langan Lewis Terman and his Termites	Chapter Eight – Rice Paddies and Math Tests Rice paddies and rice farmers Western agriculture – machine oriented; Rice farming – skill oriented Characteristics of work of rice farmer: 1.)connection between work and reward, 2.) complex work, and 3.) autonomous Positive correlation between willingness to work and math success
Chapter Four – The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 2 Chris Langan and family background Robert Oppenheimer and family background Practical intelligence Parenting philosophies – concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth	Chapter Nine – Marita’s Bargain KIPP Academy
Chapter Five – The Three Lessons of Joe Flom Joe Flom – lawyer Lesson One: The Importance of Being Jewish Lesson Two: Demographic Luck Lesson Three: The Garment Industry and Meaningful Work Louis and Regina Borgenicht and family tree
Epilogue
Daisy and Donald Nation, Faith and Joyce, Malcolm

For discussion:

1.      1.  Malcolm Gladwell explains outliers as being the result of opportunity and cultural legacy.  Do you agree?  Are there other factors?

2.     2.  In chapter two, Gladwell proposes that after basic ability, time on task is what makes the difference.  Is there an example from your life that confirms this idea?  How does this relate to our jobs in education?

3.       3. Discuss the importance of opportunity to the success of outliers.  What unusual and/or extraordinary opportunities did you have?

4.     4.  In Chapter Four, Gladwell writes about “practical intelligence.”   How can we help developmental students learn this knowledge?

5.       5. Discuss the two parenting philosophies discussed in chapter 4: concerted cultivation and accomplishment of natural growth.  How were you raised?  How have you raised your children?  Have you seen any examples of these two styles when working with your students?

6.       6. Discuss the idea of “meaningful work” in chapter five.  As educators, we definitely feel we are doing “meaningful work.”  How has this affected your family and yourself?

7.       7. Discuss conversation within different cultural contexts, specifically transmitter orientation (responsibility of speaker to be clear and concise) and receiver orientation (responsibility of listener to understand what is being communicated).  How can this be a factor in classroom communication?

8.       8. In chapter nine, Gladwell states that our academic year is based on the theory that the mind needs to rest and that is mirrors the American agricultural year.   Contrast this to the Asian nations’ year-round work ethic.  Do you think Gladwell’s references to American farming and Chinese rice farming valid?

9.       9. Discuss Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer’s experiences in college.

a.       How do their different experiences relate to their backgrounds?

b.      What would have happened to Langan at your institution?

c.       How can we help our students navigate and work within the system?

10.   10. Are there other factors that contribute to success that Gladwell didn’t consider?