The Theme Of Success In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

In Outliers: A Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell argues that success is achieved not only from hard work, but also from the circumstances and opportunities you meet with. His argument is backed by a multitde examples throughout the book. it is hard to read this and not agree with him.
One example Gladwell uses is called the Matthew Effect. This is based on Matthew 25:29 from the Christian Bible; it says, “For unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall be given and had abundance. But from him, that hath not shall be taken away even that which he had.” Gladwell uses this example in sports. When you sign up to play hockey, the cut off date is January 1. This means if you are born on January 2nd you are on the team with the kids born in that year. Kids born on December 31 are put into the same kids born on January 2nd. This favors the children born in January because they have almost a full year of maturation on the December kids. On the 2007 Medicine Hat Tigers, 42.42% of their players were born between January and March. Also, the 2007 Czech Junior Hockey Team had 50% of their players born between January and March. This also applies to other sports, such as soccer and baseball. The Matthew Effect further pertains to education. Kids born in closer to the beginning of the school year usually mature faster than those born near the end of the year. This is because they are older than the other kids. Sometimes teachers mistake mature kids as
Gladwell brings up several stories of this in his book. For example, those who made rice paddies usually did better in math. Just a simple job they had helped them later. The Beatles had an opportunity to play at a club for hours every day. Also, kids born in smaller generations are more likely to get jobs and go to school because there is less