Books about learning, talent, success.
This is a post about books that is a little different than I would generally post in a discussion about a book. I’m going to generalize about four different books.
How We Decide – Jonah Lehrer
Talent Is Overrated – Geoff Colvin
The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle
Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
For me the interesting strand that ran through these books made me question a longtime belief that I’ve held. I was very much a believer in the research done by the Gallup organization that indicated that individuals had inherent talent. And that if an individual didn’t have that natural talent no amount of work would help them acquire it. At best they can only become mechanical at performing in that talent area.
But the research presented in these four books contradicts that thinking. And as they studied individuals who we’d been led to believe did miraculous things simply because of their innate talent, they found that that simply wasn’t the case.
There does seem to be some common elements that lead to great performances. There seems to be something very important about an individual who spends 10,000 hours in the pursuit of perfection. In addition it seems to be important that that 10,000 hours be accomplished within a 10 year period. But we all know somebody who has been on their job for at least 10 years, and has worked at it at least 10,000 hours, yet they are very average performers.
The third element that seems to be very important is the idea of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is the practice of identifying specifically what the individual is doing incorrectly and working to improve on that specific area. Where most people fail to become experts is that they prefer to practice the things that are already good at, and neglect to practice the things that they’re not good at.
The example that they use in one of the books is that Tiger Woods will go out and hit a single shot hundreds of times on the off chance that he will need to make that shot once or twice in a season. Speaking of Tiger Woods, we have been led to believe that he is just innately the best offer that ever lived. But when they actually studied his childhood, from the time he was old enough to sit in a high chair, his father had him watching his golf swing and talking to him about golf. And as soon as Tiger was old enough to stand he started hitting a golf ball under the tutelage of his father who was a golf instructor.
So what does this mean for schools? As I think about what our kids do for 10 years and 10,000 hours, and that they practice deliberately, the only thing I can consistently come up with is that they are taught to sit quietly and passively and listen to an adult. I’m not sure that that’s the behavior that we want our kids to be experts at. This certainly doesn’t mean that that’s the only thing kids learn, but for far too many of our kids they spin the 10 years and the 10,000 hours practicing just that.
Perhaps that’s why when high school dropouts or questioned they say that the reason they dropped out was because school was boring and irrelevant. And in the research,The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts report, they found that 88% of dropouts at passing grades.
So my suggestion read all four of these books and think about the implications for schools, our classrooms, and our practices. And by all means post a comment below so I know what you think about this!
