A Little Note on Gladwell's Outliers

There is nothing new under the sun. Such a proverb applies well to Outliers. Findings and insights discussed in the book are already discussed somewhere else. A case in point, the idea of brain malleability dated back to Urie Brofenbrenner in the early 1960s. However, the genius of Malcolm Gladwell lies on his ability to synthesize disparate facts and figures, and support them with strong reasoning and effective writing skills to make this book not only informative but highly inspirational. This book is a real example of how problem solving activities were done by the author.

I will highlight at least three reasons why this book is beneficial to develop a greater understanding of the nature of problem solving and/or educational research.

First, how Gladwell teaches us to view things commonly regarded as common sense as scientifically explicable. Gladwell makes use of various illustrations to support his reasoning. Based on the data of birth dates of successful hockey players in Canada, he draws a vivid argument. The fact that those successful players were born in the first four months of the year creates a "myth" among many people. Gladwell, however, is able to create a web of explanations that removes the mythical conception of birth dates. There is no magic with the birth dates, because the success of those players are in fact determined by their maturation in comparison to their peers (due to the cutoff date to attend school), combined with perfect opportunity to play in the team, extended time of practice, and appropriate coaching.

Second, by deconstructing the concept of intelligence and gathering necessary evidence, Gladwell teaches us to see the complexity of success in a sophisticated manner. By referring to the longitudinal study conducted by Terman - which was called the "Termites", and supplied with the biographical sketch of Chris Langan and how concerted cultivation among high SES families, Gladwell problematizes the contentious issue of intelligence and being genius. The intelligence tests have been used to predict who will thrive and fail in their life. Eugenic ideas that were commonly held during the Progressive Era were used as a frame of reference, leading to the creation of policies such as fertilization and institutionalization of the feebleminded. Gladwell argues that being intelligent or genius is not enough. A case in point, Chris Langan, whose IQ is 195 (much higher than 150-IQ Albert Einstein), suffers from what psychologist Robert Sternberg calls as "practical intelligence."
Third, cultural change requires fundamental shift and bold action to take place. The series of accidents suffered by Korean Air in fact reflected a deep seated cultural dissonance toward a straight-forward, Western-style communication system applied in flight management in airports. Gladwell comes to such a conclusion after conducting a number of investigations: reading various data, reports, and accounts on different kinds of flight accidents. What is more interesting for me is the solution proposed to the problems. The change was eventually made by firstly recruiting a foreigner to lead the change. The recruitment finally yielded positive results, and bold actions - such as to retrain Korean pilots to comply with standards and English skills - proved to bring positive impacts on the company.

There are certainly various examples in the book that can be taken as evidence of problem solving activities. For me, the way this book is written, how the ideas are presented, and how the arguments are supported and defended make this book a must-read-book if we really want to study the problem solving skills.

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