Executive Summary The novel Outliers, aims to investigate the very thing we want for our family, our students, and ourselves. For most of our lives we have believed that with hard work, anyone can achieve success. That had to be the reason that poor immigrants like Andrew Carnegie and college dropouts like Bill Gates achieved unimaginable wealth. Most of us were taught that working harder than anyone else would lead to ultimate success.
While the author, Malcolm Gladwell, does not dispute that hard work in a necessary component, we learn that many factors, lucky breaks, and some coincidences all occur in making high achievers into true outliers. We also learn that many of the richest, most famous, and most successful people in …show more content…

However, letting talented people slip through the cracks is something that we as educators can help to prevent. Someone with Chris Langan’s intellect does not come often, but that does not mean that as educators we cannot spend time to help those less fortunate. While the affluent can afford private schools, better tutors, and more social experiences, it is our job as public educators to do our best to provide all students with an opportunity to succeed. Prior to reading Outliers, I knew that socioeconomic status certainly played a role, but learning of all the cases where great minds have been wasted most definitely opened my eyes to the plight of the less fortunate.
Part Two: Legacy In the second part of the book, the author looks at the backgrounds, influences and cultures to determine their role in someone’s success. Gladwell investigates cultural heritages and their effect on people. He presented the case of Korean Air, the most accident-prone airline in the world. It turns out that Korean culture frowns on speaking or giving commands to one’s superior. Simply put, members of the crew were watching their captains make mistakes with out speaking up and it was costing lives! In order for Korean Air to turn things around, it needed to change the culture. This is mirrored in our public schools across the country. Initiatives are constantly being presented and rarely do the ever affect the status quo. Until the culture of the school is changed