Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

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             Gladwell also examines two economists, Kelly Bedard and Elizabeth Dhuey and their efforts in looking at the relationship between scores and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Bedard and Dhuey discover that, among the fourth graders, the oldest children scored somewhere between four and twelve percentile points better than the youngest. Just like the hockey players, the older children had gained an arbitrary advantage because of when they were born and when the cutoff dates were. As Dhuey explained, "If you take two intellectually equivalent fourth graders whose birthdays are at the opposite months of the cutoff dates, the older student could score in the eighteenth percentile, while the younger one score in the sixty-eighth percentile. That's the difference between qualifying for a gifted program or not" (Gladwell 28). She went on to say teachers were confusing maturity with ability. With that said, the older and more gifted children continue to advance in their learning, while the younger ones are at a disadvantage. .
             After analyzing both scenarios, Gladwell argues they were successful because most likely they were given unique opportunities or "accumulative advantage" (metaphorically refers to the issues of fame or status) which led to further their success; unlike those who were affected by cutoff dates. He believes society profoundly personalizes success (individual merit); missing out on opportunities "to lift others onto the top rung" (Gladwell 32). .
             In "The 10,000-Hour Rule," Gladwell talks about ten thousand hours as being the magic number for greatness and wonders if practice really makes perfect or if it is a combination of things. Gladwell uses a sequence of events that involved Bill Joy, The Beatles, and Bill Gates, as well as a list of the 75 richest people in history to discover whether or not he believes "The 10,000-Rule" is true.