Current Read Outliers December 17, 2008
Posted by wisdomaddict in Books.add a comment
I am currently reading Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. This book is fascinating. He uses some information about some extrordiarily successful people to explain their success. The beginning of the book discusses canadian Professional hockey. Gladwell noticed that a huge statistical aberration occurred in that many of the best players were born in Jan., Feb. and March- fully 40%. He delves in to show that the junior leagues have an age cutofff on Jan. 1 which means a player that has a bday on Jan 2 is virtually a full year older than the kid that was born in dec. In the pros this is not a big deal but at the age of 7, 8 or 9 years -this one year of physical and mental maturity will make or break a kid. This is the progression. older kids outscore younger kids in junior levels and they move into club with better coaches against stronger competition and more practice time. This just escalates all the way to the pros. If you were born in Dec. your chances are strongly diminished in this game. This holds true for other sports including Baseball and has drastic consequences for our educational system. In Denmark children below age 10 are grouped into classes in 3 month intervals January February March are in 1 class , April may June 2nd class etc. This is awesome and should be done here. It would eliminate problems in the classroom due to varying maturity levels within 1 year of development. Statistics show that the treatment received by the younger group in a class can determine future education level and overall life achievement even mental health later in life.More to come
