Outliers

1. In GT we are reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The purpose of the book is to tell people about the lives of people who are successful, or unique in a way. It says how they became successful and also about their lives. We have also read about things such as the 10,000 rule which states that to be "good" at something you have to practice it for at least 10,000 hours. So lets say you want to be a soccer player when you grow up, well to become "good" you would have to practice at least 10,000 hours! That's a lot of time isn't it? Well if you are actually dedicated to be "good" at something than you would practice more than 10,000 hours, just like anyone who is a professional at anything, they are dedicated and have definitely practiced for at least 10,000 hours, that is why they are "good."

2. Chapters 3 and 4 were very long, but also contained an immense amount of information. Chapter 3 had an abundance amount of information about Christopher Langan. He isn't a famous person, but he has an IQ of around 193! That is amazingly high! This chapter talked about his life and how smart he was when he was young and how smart he still is. This chapter also talked about IQ and IQ Tests. Towards the end of the chapter Gladwell talked about people who won the Nobel Prize and which colleges they had come from. In Chapter 4 talked more about Chris Langan and more on his life in college and how he had a hard time unfortunately. It also talked about Robert Oppenheimer. It ended of talking about how Chris Langan's life today is.

3. I personally think that Chris Langan in a way is successful and in a way isn't successful. I think that he is successful because he is happy with his life right now even though he lives on a farm in Montana, and isn't that rich. He is happy with his life and doesn't seem to regret any of his actions, this shows that he has accomplished his goal and that means you are successful because once you reach your goal you have got what you wanted. The only reason I feel he isn't successful is because he is so smart and I feel that he could have done much more and could have had at least twice the amount of money he has. I think he could have accomplished something for which he would be remembered for, people are not going to know who he was after he dies, if he had used his brains to do something extraordinary then he would be remembered and also rich.

4. The things that I learned from this chapter is that you don't need to go to Harvard to win a Nobel Prize award. I learned that you can do something even if you don't go to an amazing college. I also learned that once your IQ is at a high level and someone else's is higher, then at that point it doesn't make much of a difference because both of you are smart and are capable enough to handle the same tasks. The thing that I will take away from this chapter is that to be successful all I have to do is reach my goal, I don't have to do what anyone else thinks successful means, because if I can accomplish my goal, than I am successful and happy with my life!

Delaying Kindergarten

This article is very shocking to me. I do agree that schools do make you smarter. I don't think that delaying kindergarten will help a child. I think that if they start to learn earlier, they will become smarter earlier and will grow up and could even start making money earlier! Children who have a delayed start to school will be at a disadvantage to others. Parents would like to provide the best environment for their children and delaying school isn't the right support. Parents who want to give their young children an academic advantage have a powerful tool: school itself. In a large-scale study at 26 Canadian elementary schools, first graders who were young for their year made considerably more progress in reading and math than kindergartners who were old for their year (but just two months younger). This shows that delaying school isn't helpful, instead starting early would be more helpful because you learn new things at school to help you excel and know more than the kids in the grades under you. I strongly belive starting school early is much better than delaying it.

Meeting someone new

My name is Yash and I am in 9th grade. My favorite subjects at school are Gym, Lunch, and GT. I like to learn about sports facts and records set by all-stars. In my free time I like to play sports, playing video games, watching TV, and hanging out with my friends. I love to watch football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. My favorite teams are Dallas Cowboys, New York Knicks, New York Yankees, and FC Barcelona! I don't know what I want to be yet when I get older. The things that make me happy are cracking jokes and messing around with my friends and seeing my favorite sports teams win!