Outliers
Today I was reading the book called Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Today I was reading a section about summer break.
In general, for middle and upper class students, summer is a good thing because during the summer they learn a lot, like reading and math. They read a lot, go to extracurricular activities, and go to summer camps. They have homework and other things to do. However, for poor kids, the summer break is not an opportunity to learn. Their shelves are not jammed with books. They do not have money for summer camps. They just watch TV and play outside and have fun. The thing is, when they are having fun, their upper- and middle-class counterparts are out-learning them, and by the time school starts up in September or August, they are really behind on things.
The article talked about an experimental school named KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program). This school, with 50% African American and 50% Hispanic students, starts at 7:25 and ends at 5:00. Most students get up at 5:30, with some getting up at 3:00 or 4:00. However, this school trains students in the rice paddie paradigm - that to produce good results, you need effort and motivation. Most students from this school learn high-school algebra in 7th grade.
Today I learned about the fact that summer break isn't good for everyone, and that to produce good results you need effort and motivation.
In general, for middle and upper class students, summer is a good thing because during the summer they learn a lot, like reading and math. They read a lot, go to extracurricular activities, and go to summer camps. They have homework and other things to do. However, for poor kids, the summer break is not an opportunity to learn. Their shelves are not jammed with books. They do not have money for summer camps. They just watch TV and play outside and have fun. The thing is, when they are having fun, their upper- and middle-class counterparts are out-learning them, and by the time school starts up in September or August, they are really behind on things.
The article talked about an experimental school named KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program). This school, with 50% African American and 50% Hispanic students, starts at 7:25 and ends at 5:00. Most students get up at 5:30, with some getting up at 3:00 or 4:00. However, this school trains students in the rice paddie paradigm - that to produce good results, you need effort and motivation. Most students from this school learn high-school algebra in 7th grade.
Today I learned about the fact that summer break isn't good for everyone, and that to produce good results you need effort and motivation.
Comments
Post a Comment