Sunday, January 27, 2008
A Final Reaction to Gladwell's "The Tipping Point"
I've made numerous comments about Malcom Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" over the last week in this blog and in class, but now that I've finished reading it I felt that I should wrap up my thoughts into one coherent (hopefully) post. Overall, I did enjoy the book. I am a fan of non-fiction and learned some nice gems of information. But I still most continue my original thoughts that the book his overly simplified.
I agree with his point that small changes can have big results. I'm a firm believer in the theory of Occam's Razor, which Gladwell basically elongates into 300 pages, but am still unconvinced.
I take notice to the by-line in his book "How Little Things Can Make a Difference" because the "Can" certainly needs to be emphasized. Yes, tweaking a program to effect an epidemic of some kind or being creative in a marketing campaign can give results but it takes a greater more robust strategy that cannot be ignored for real political or business success.
A perfect example came to my mind while watching CSPAN yesterday, where they were replaying a speech made by Bill Clinton in South Carolina. Clinton was there to promote his wife's campaign to be the next President of the United States and used his Law of the Few sales-man skills to pitch Hillary's higher education plan. Many of the things Bill Clinton stressed were these "little things" that Gladwell discusses, but it was a combination of these tweaks as part of a broader and more comprehensive strategy. This comprehensive strategy "can make a difference" but their are many potential adoption and success factors that can threaten it. Yes, offering more Pell Grants will help. Yes, offering students the ability to subvert the greedy student loan companies and borrow directly from the Federal Government will help. And yes, offering tuition remission to individuals going into careers in public service will have a profound impact on our system and society.
First, it's hard for me to attribute these ideas as little things. Secondly I cannot stress how strongly I feel the importance of a comprhensive approach is to fixing the problem. The comments made by Clinton -- if implemented -- "can make a difference" but will they? And how? If these changes give agency to any American to afford college, who will tell them about them? What public schools in Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; Oakland, CA; or New York City, NY; will adequately prepare the grammar and high school students of today to enter college. Clinton didn't say anything about repealing "No Child Left Behind." He didn't talk about improving teacher compensation. He spoke of college. That is one component of educating our work-force, but for many socio-economic reasons many people can't go to college. Should they continue to be shut out of the 21st century economy? No!!!! Clinton did talk about a program to retrofit all New York City public buildings to become green and how the public works project will create thousands of "green collared" jobs for high school graduates who can be trained to be the laborers of the projects. Is that a little thing or is that a big thing? It's certainly sounds bigger than having a clean needle van heading into Baltimore once a week.
Okay, I'm back off of my soap box (my throat is sore from metaphorically screaming). Reading Gladwell's "Tipping Point" was a good use of my time. I am a little behind in my course readings beause the book store didn't have the books in stock and I didn't get the book until the day the class started (where I read a solid 18 pages before class started), but after four days and a couple sittings I'm glad I spent the time to catch up and finish it. Now before I pass out or fall over I must start my other reading for my class tomorrow. Ahh the life of a part-time graduate student with a full-time job and other responsibilities. To quote the Dali Lama supporting rock-rappers, "Their is no sleep to Brooklyn!"
I agree with his point that small changes can have big results. I'm a firm believer in the theory of Occam's Razor, which Gladwell basically elongates into 300 pages, but am still unconvinced.
I take notice to the by-line in his book "How Little Things Can Make a Difference" because the "Can" certainly needs to be emphasized. Yes, tweaking a program to effect an epidemic of some kind or being creative in a marketing campaign can give results but it takes a greater more robust strategy that cannot be ignored for real political or business success.
A perfect example came to my mind while watching CSPAN yesterday, where they were replaying a speech made by Bill Clinton in South Carolina. Clinton was there to promote his wife's campaign to be the next President of the United States and used his Law of the Few sales-man skills to pitch Hillary's higher education plan. Many of the things Bill Clinton stressed were these "little things" that Gladwell discusses, but it was a combination of these tweaks as part of a broader and more comprehensive strategy. This comprehensive strategy "can make a difference" but their are many potential adoption and success factors that can threaten it. Yes, offering more Pell Grants will help. Yes, offering students the ability to subvert the greedy student loan companies and borrow directly from the Federal Government will help. And yes, offering tuition remission to individuals going into careers in public service will have a profound impact on our system and society.
First, it's hard for me to attribute these ideas as little things. Secondly I cannot stress how strongly I feel the importance of a comprhensive approach is to fixing the problem. The comments made by Clinton -- if implemented -- "can make a difference" but will they? And how? If these changes give agency to any American to afford college, who will tell them about them? What public schools in Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; Oakland, CA; or New York City, NY; will adequately prepare the grammar and high school students of today to enter college. Clinton didn't say anything about repealing "No Child Left Behind." He didn't talk about improving teacher compensation. He spoke of college. That is one component of educating our work-force, but for many socio-economic reasons many people can't go to college. Should they continue to be shut out of the 21st century economy? No!!!! Clinton did talk about a program to retrofit all New York City public buildings to become green and how the public works project will create thousands of "green collared" jobs for high school graduates who can be trained to be the laborers of the projects. Is that a little thing or is that a big thing? It's certainly sounds bigger than having a clean needle van heading into Baltimore once a week.
Okay, I'm back off of my soap box (my throat is sore from metaphorically screaming). Reading Gladwell's "Tipping Point" was a good use of my time. I am a little behind in my course readings beause the book store didn't have the books in stock and I didn't get the book until the day the class started (where I read a solid 18 pages before class started), but after four days and a couple sittings I'm glad I spent the time to catch up and finish it. Now before I pass out or fall over I must start my other reading for my class tomorrow. Ahh the life of a part-time graduate student with a full-time job and other responsibilities. To quote the Dali Lama supporting rock-rappers, "Their is no sleep to Brooklyn!"
Labels: Bill Clinton, Education Reform, hillary clinton, Malcom Gladwell, U.S. Politics
// posted by Jason Langsner @ 10:08 PM 
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