Outliers, Revisited | Revisionist History | Malcolm Gladwell

Did Malcolm Gladwell blow it in his bestselling book Outliers? What if all he did was write a primer for neurotic helicopter parents? To find out, Revisionist History descends on the University of Pennsylvania to run a roomful of eager students through a mysterious experiment, complete with Sharpies, huge white stickers, and a calculator. It does not end well.

Season 7 (2022)
#podcast #revisionisthistory #malcolmgladwell #outliers #wharton #upenn #experiment

ABOUT REVISIONIST HISTORY
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every podcast episode re-examines something from the past — an event, a person, an idea, even a song — and asks whether we got it right the first time. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.

ABOUT MALCOLM GLADWELL
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996. He is a trustee of the Surgo Foundation and currently serves on the board of the RAND Corporation.

ABOUT PUSHKIN INDUSTRIES
Pushkin Industries is an audio production company dedicated to creating premium content in a collaborative environment. Co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018, Pushkin has launched seven new shows into the top 10 on Apple Podcasts (Against the Rules, The Happiness Lab, Solvable, Cautionary Tales, Deep Cover, The Last Archive, and Lost Hills), in addition to producing the hugely successful Revisionist History. Pushkin’s growing audiobook catalogue includes includes the bestselling biography “Fauci,” by Michael Specter, “Hasta La Vista, America,” Kurt Andersen’s parody Trump farewell speech performed by Alec Baldwin, "Takeover" by Noah Feldman, and “Talking to Strangers,” from Pushkin co-founder Malcolm Gladwell. Pushkin is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners and inspires curiosity and joy.

STAY CONNECTED

[ilahjarvis]

I had the same group of kids every year in elementary school. I was one of three kids who were always in the front row for class photos because we were short, we were picked last for team sports, and so on. My birthday is in November, another kid was December, the third was in October. The bossy grade A student was born in January. While I was never diagnosed with a learning disability, It was clear that adults thought I was slow. Now I'm convinced I was just too young. I finally got over this when I became a teacher, and I watch my adult students struggle like I did as a small child. I have empathy for them, I know what it feels like to struggle with new information, but I am finally convinced there was nothing actually wrong with me.

[sonwabilepapu]

The response from the students when they were asked if they were open to an adjustment of the tests, frightened me. Having to know you could balance the scales and still refrain from doing the right thing because it might put you in a worse state than the undeserved privilege. As humans we need to do better.

[swativellodi]

I am really happy that Revisionist History is on YouTube now !!! wohhooo .. helps people like me also get access to this

[jliller]

I have an October birthday and the cutoff for Kindergarten was being 5 on September 1st. I attended Headstart instead. The following year when I entered Kindergarten I was quickly deemed too advanced so I was skipped to 1st Grade and put in part-time Gifted. I moved before going into 2nd grade, where I was again in part-time gifted before moving to full-time Gifted for 3rd Grade through 6th Grade, and 3 out of 4 possible Gifted classes in 7th & 8th.

I did not attend a prestigious college because I was massively checked out of academics by the time I reached high school.

That skipped grade probably wasn't as significant a hindrance as my AuDHD that wasn't diagnosed until I was 40, but it sure didn't help.

[LPLY]

This is one of the most important episodes you've done. Fantastic work.

[kristoffernordman]

Wow Malcolm! Keep at it! Your work is not finished here, and I think this is one of your historic footprints!!!

[sierrabaird]

They don't want to change the system because it feels like a psychological threat to not know where they stand in the pack. The thing that is highlighted here, and what we would all benefit to identify in ourselves, is psychological immaturity. When we are more developed psychologically we don't need to get our strength from feeling superior to others. What they are doing is human nature, but we can grow ourselves up so that we can make space for others while also valuing our own contributions.

[divalivingston]

The age factor is relevant. My older sister was born on September 29th and the cut off was September 30th for kindergarten. Years later, my mom said she wished she had held her back a year. I was born in one of the months of better opportunity, but I have dyslexia. I'd like to have had some compensation for that! I wasn't aware of it until much later so all the time I thought I just wasn't getting it. It won't ever be as simple as an algorithm adjusting the scores to get the ideal situation. This was an excellent presentation.

[lurelurche]

this is incredible, I'm a January child from Latin America, and our school starts in March, so anyone born before March is a year younger, the difference was noticeable, this is a life changer, I understand so much about my schooling now.

[Old_Jack_Ketch]

That was fascinating… I find it interesting that (the one female student, at least, and I’m assuming she’s typical) the students have no trouble leaning into the idea of racial privilege, but having an advantage of 12 months over someone else gets a more hostile reaction. That genuinely surprised me.

[geephlips]

I was old for my grade and it never occurred to me until now that that was an advantage over students with younger brains. The interesting thing is that being told I was gifted and breezing through elementary school with little effort also meant that I didn’t develop the discipline and study habits I would need when subjects got harder in junior high and high school. I came very close to flunking Geometry in 9th grade, and ended up by the end of high school getting very good grades. So perhaps I ended up where I should have been from the start.

[bevboersen]

Thank you Malcolm, brought a tear to my eye. Fairness….to cynicism, what do we value?

[krism]

I have found this podcast late, so likely no one will hear this. However, this episode reminded me of when I took typing in high school, and also read an article about how the QWERTY keyboard was designed to keep the old fashion typewriters from tangling by slowing the speed that someone types. I lamented learning a system that would forever hobble me, and when I discussed it changing to a more efficient keyboard, there was no enthusiasm to relearn a system that would make them more efficient because of the status quo..

[ruffy]

This is so interesting. The students reluctance to change the system that favours them is very much a reflection of our society, where those that get favoured by the system get to more powerful positions and then from those positions refraint to change the system that favoured them in the first place. It puts it all in perspective

[coquitlamfalcons]

Fascinating. Is there any research on admission/enrollment data of kids getting into the prestigious colleges to see if the iron rule applies to college admission too?

[pagesculptor]

I skipped Kindergarten and graduated from college early, even after taking some time off to start a family. I'm an October baby, and everything Malcolm brings up is pretty much my educational/athletic experience. In K-12, I was always in trouble for being less mature, never chosen for any advanced activity or program (like my March child), and made to feel quite dumb in everything except English (I'm now a writer). In college, many professors straight-up told me I would probably fail their class because I was younger, and when I passed, they didn't hesitate to express their surprise. Even after I was a longstanding professional, one professor told me to my face that she was impressed that I actually did well in my career because she didn't expect much from me. Funny because all my other journalist peers from my college years have burned out, faded away, or moved on to other careers.

My children have decided not to have kids. But I guess if they change their mind, I'll tell them to get pregnant in June or July.

[jennyohara]

Excellent analysis, and sad at the same time. I think those who talk about "gaming" or "re-gaming" are missing the basic point. Accounting for maturity removes the opportunity to game or re-game. It's sad that the seniors in this experiment were so unwilling - or unable - to see how they had benefited from age-related advantage, and wanted to deny the advantage not just to their peers but to future generations as well.

[DrNancyLivingCoCreatively]

Malcolm while I have little time to read. I love revisionist in your title and in my college a lot online many used online data, ethically. Educators I vant remember the marxist who said ediction is theatre. You are brilliant. But the world has already world renowned. I am passionate for peer to peer learning.

[RobespierreRobRoy]

I like the coordinated subtitles, big and bold.

[loriclyke]

So happy I found you here. Love reading and hearing your thoughts and ideas!