In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell highlights compelling evidence of success stories, from Bill Gates to the Beatles, to support his thesis. He contends that beyond general ability for a field and the opportunity to learn and practice, the difference between moderate success and outstanding success is a great deal of hard work. Somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 hours seems to be required for moderate success. Gladwell cites numerous, intriguing stories that show a consistent pattern of about 10,000 hours of hard work before a person achieves outstanding success.¹
Gladwell also makes a powerful case for the connection between the success that students from many Asian countries (Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan) have in mathematics, the cultural value of hard work in those countries, and the history of agriculture in those countries. Wet rice farming requires more hard work than almost any other type of farming.² The intense, sustained and mindful work that is required to build and maintain the rice paddies that terrace the mountainsides of Southern China and many other Asian countries has created cultures that link effort and achievement. The cultural understanding of the connection between effort and achievement is reflected in numerous Chinese proverbs. Two examples are:
"If a man works hard, the land will not be lazy."
"Useless to ask about the crops, it all depends on hard work and fertilizer." ³
Gladwell argues that the cultural value of hard, persistent work is a significant part of the reason that students from Southern China (Taiwan), South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan achieve so well in mathematics, as shown, for instance, in scores on the Trends in International Math Study (TIMSS). Interestingly, Erling Boe, an educational researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, found a surprising effort/achievement relationship on the TIMSS test. He ranked students according to the number of items they completed on the extensive personal information questionnaire that is given to all students who take the TIMSS exam. He found that their ranking on completing the lengthy questionnaire is the same as their ranking on mathematics achievement.4 Gladwell hypothesizes that filling out all or nearly all the items on the questionnaire is evidence of perseverance and the willingness to work hard–qualities required for mathematical thinking.
Many educators emphasize the connection between effort and achievement. Alan Schoenfeld teachers a course in math problem solving at UC Berkeley. His goal is to teach students that success in mathematics is "a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard…" 5
Robert Marzano recommends explicitly teaching students about the connection between effort and achievement. His effort and achievement rubric provides a template for students to record daily assignments, effort and achievement.6
It is helpful if educators can encourage students to put in some effort during the summer with enjoyable pastimes that require logic and other math-related thinking. Although students from all economic levels make significant growth during elementary school, there is a huge difference in how much students gain or lose during summer vacation. Students from low socio-economic groups lose ground while students from high socio-economic groups make significant gains over summer vacation.7
We recommend encouraging students to play games related to mathematics during vacation. Here are links to a number of suggestions:
We will continue the topic of effort and achievement in our August newsletter. It will highlight some exciting research about the dynamic effects of certain types of effort that result both in achievement and in the development of powerful neural insulators in our brains.
1Gladwell, Malcolm, (2008) Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown and Company. New York, NY.
2 Ibid. p. 233
3 Ibid. pp. 237-238
4 Ibid. p. 248
5 Ibid. p. 246
6 Marzano, Robert (2001) The Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works. ASCD. Alexandria, VA. pp. 99-100.
7 Alexander, K. L., Entwisle D. R., & Olson L. S. (2007) "Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap". American
Sociological Review, 72, 167-180. |
