Being a top student works both ways. Not only you shine, but you also get all the attention from the teachers. The teachers prefer to speak with top students, suggest ideas to them, in practice you are part of the closed club of the people who publish. It's not that students get discouraged, it's that the professor's time is a scarce resource

"Man should ascend to knowledge, and descend to work." Descartes said a lot with this one.

I quote Malcolm Gladwell every time I see EICD or Relative Deprivation Psychology in the real world. His understanding and speech on the subject are brilliant! When I found this video, I only had to write one research paper during my freshman year on whether it were worth going to an ivy league school. It's almost poetic that I'm currently attending a lower-end institution that hardly anyone has heard of. I did poorly in middle school to where I was nearly held back a grade, and my high school transcripts aren't much better. Now, I'm making dean's list every semester; not because people in my school are not smart, but because having the opportunity to succeed when I'm usually a slow learner has provided me the confidence to really appreciate my education. Thank you, Malcolm, for helping me understand how academia really works; and for making my paper easier to write!

This guy's extremely smart. I think what I can take with me from this is: Make everyone close to you feel capable of doing everything they wish to accomplish, because just making them feel this way is going to make them accomplish more.

Malcolm Gladwell is unique. His way of explaining, comprehending and delivering highly advanced and difficult academic research to the common man never seize to amaze me. Cudos to you sir.

He could tell a story about watching paint dry and i'd probably still find myself watching the whole thing. Genius story teller.

So, here we have a very real explanation for why it can be very hamful for college applicants to "shoot to high." I've thought this for years, but I've never seen it this well articulated. Thank you, Malcolm.

Finally, a validation of what I experienced all my life. He doesn’t mention the necessity of working while in school when from low income families which prevents the science labs, and language labs as well as music activities required too after classes.

Malcolm Gladwell is one of those rare sparks that enlightens us in this maddeningly irrational world.

This is my personal story - my PhD degree was NOT the Ivy league university but now 128 peer reviewed papers, 12 book chapters, Ed-in-Chief of a journal, 1 edited book and 1 co-authored book behind me, I know he is right.

everyone still left expecting their kid to get into an ivy league school

Counterpoints brought up by a Quora user Russel Huang, answered on April 7, 2015 Which dropout rate, exactly? Is it: - the proportion of students who declare a STEM major and then do not graduate within X years in that major (out of all students who declared STEM)? (I think this is the 90%, or rather, 10%, figure.) - the proportion of students who declare a STEM major but switch to another major (out of all students who declared STEM)? - the proportion of students who wanted to declare a STEM major when they started college, but eventually don't (out of all students who said they wanted to do so)? (I think this is what Gladwell is trying to get at.) Gladwell's argument appears to be that many of the people who don't go into STEM at Harvard could or would have done so at another university. In other words, he posits that your "chance" of getting a STEM degree isn't based on your absolute ability but rather your relative ability compared to your peer group. He then conflates that with the idea that the relatively-lower ability students are "dropping out" of a STEM field. That's not really what his data shows. All his data shows is that, for whatever reason, people with a 700 Math SAT (or whatever) are less likely to major in a STEM field if they go to Harvard rather than Hartwick.

One of the the finest thinkers of our time, Malcolm Gladwell makes a strong case against the popular perception through this thoughtfully demonstrated education pattern study conducted in the elite and non-elite schools of America. Highly recommended for everyone.

He used that presentation on his amazing book David and Goliath underdogs misfits and the art of battling giants. Great great book! What a mind.

This must explain why self taught foreign language students progress way more as opposed to those who attend language classes at some institution or study it at school where they constantly compare their poor pronunciation or vocabulary with some other peer. THAT IS WHY , some kids that went to public schools in Latin America with poor language teachers sometimes end up speaking better English than those who went to bilingual schools that cost a hell lot of money. Even though they were getting better chances to succeed their inferiority in relative terms to their peers and it’s effects on their psyche outpaced the quality of the education they were getting. In Argentina we say or at least I say and assume I heard it from somebody : “Would you rather be a lion ‘s tail or a mouse’s head” The worst of the best or the best of the worst. And might also explain why some people , like elite families in Latin America , having the chances to live a better life somewhere else just choose to don’t do so in order to stay on top of the curve. Why people some people choose to stay in small towns and so on. Hierarchy an it’s effects on the human mind are extremely interesting.

This man is something else. Smart, charismatic and funny!

Malcolm accepted the invitation to speak at Google b/c he wanted society to hear this message. Google offered him a platform for his message to be heard. I graduated an undergraduate science degree in ‘79. In my first year of study I intuited my marks and class ranking would be inconsequential unless I was in the top 1 percentile upon graduation. That everyone from 99%-50% would be lumped into one large group: “Not First”. Similar to the Olympic Games. One Gold medal equals a corporate endorsement offer, esteem and financial gain. Five silver medals is rewarded with obscurity. 43 years since I was graduated with Honours: here are the numbers to support my position.

Really wish I saw this before picking my school. I made the mistake of choosing the best school I got into instead of the second best that I would rather have gone to and would have done really well at. I lost confidence in myself, didn't understand why I was not performing as well as I had in high school, and ended up being worse off academically, intellectually, socially, and holistically. It's not an understatement to say it was the worst decision of my life to go with the "number one" school in the country over a top 25 with less prestige.

Great speech, as always, Malcolm. You never cease to intrigue.

I heard this guy speak at a local college last year. He's a most impressive intellectual.

Amazing speech... its seems so known, but still unknown..!! Getting a different perception now!! Thanks Malcolm for this incredible speech!!!

I love every new ideas that Malcolm Gladwell shares!

He's pretty brilliant in his knowledge base and ability to make observations that nobody else is making. He has the data to back up everything he says. He's kind of loud in this presentation, but he's quite charismatic most of his others. I suggest you watch them. BTW he's the Author of "Outliers" and "David and Goliath"

Malcom being malcom in this one. His slight of hand in this one is that a math degree from hartwick is the same product as one from Harvard. Ask a kid from hartwick how his job search is going vs. one from Harvard. Malcom, malcom, malcom. Never change.

This explains high school situation. When I changed my lousy high school and go to a private, academically flying high school, I became one of the worst students there. However, when I was at that lousy high school, I was more motivated and "relatively" better.

Big fan of Malcolm Gladwell !! Great talk

Wow. Very interesting. I can apply this to many things in my life, not just in the classroom - music, athletics, the workplace. And, as we all know, we're hungry for theories that will explain why our lives turned out as they did. Mr. Gladwell is a brilliant man.

Fascinating as Malcolm Gladwell always is - deeper than usual here

Malcolm, you are just One of a Kind.

I love Malcom's analysis, hard to argue with data

Well spoken and absolutely absorbing, entertaining and interesting.

Great observations I had not heard of before. I love the shirt kind of tucked in in front and out in the back. And he does not button the collar buttons down. And the jeans are worn. He is so talented and brilliant, he can do that. In fact, the more brilliant and accomplished you are, the more slovenly you can and should be.

This is kinda like how the best basketball players I've ever played against end up being the last guy on an NBA bench at BEST and usually end up with no shot at getting in the league at all

"it is costing me to be here!"

My left ear is now ever so slightly wiser

I read most of his book and it is only until this week that I got interested to watch his talks. Honestly, I am very pleased to know your work and picking up your brain. Peace

Great speech. I will again purchase his new book - they are always a pleasant read.

Thank you for this inspiring talk.

Three points this presentation brought to my mind . 1. A far more interesting question for Malcolm: Why do so few music students at university drop out even though they might not be very good? 2. You have to prove yourself a genius but once - 3. SAT scores don't tell us much about the whole person.

Nice to learn from Malcolm!

This is why I always like this guy, breaking it down like a beast! Go on with your bad self, can't wait for his new book, if this is any indication, it's going to be another great read.

Love this guy. Amazing.

I don't know why KZfaq suggest me this old good talk, but I like it.

Wow. I just love the way Malcolm Gladwell's mind works. Now I'm glad Harvard didn't want me.

Brilliant, let me tell my story, being a good student during my Secondary and Higher secondary school, I went to the best Engineering school of Bangladesh, its screening process is very similar of that of IITs for uninitiated people. Stood in the 10 percentile among 10,000 participants that year and maybe among 1 percentile among that year 100K prospective applicant. What I found after admission that how grueling and demanding the courses were, I were not simply ready. I struggled. I didnot study because I didn't fell the urge of studying. I was more into developing video games!!!! I huffed, I puffed...... But when the results start spawning I was near the bottom of my department. And Relative Position came into play. I thought I was not good enough, but I was. I deemed myself worthless on others perceived success. After graduation, top 10 percentile went onto top schools of US to pursue their Phds. Life became difficult, I joined a big organization but when you see your friends working in big labs under eminent professor that hurts. Hurts a lot, I might say. We put our emphasis on wrong places and therefore we might loss on things that are actually more important.

It's all RELATIVE! D'uh! But seriously, MG's my favourite author ATM & in the current state of the world, this is a highly valid, even vital, discussion.

Let me share my story , Grown up in an unacademic home , grandma took care of me during early upbringing , basically without a father and mother(2 different nationalities ) right after my 4th birthday , as they took the decision to get separated and part each other way, at that moment I did not realize what that all meant , I continued to attend my basic education , with really good grades in math and languages sometimes at the top of the class I was in , however my performance went abit more south during the end of my high school , unfortunately little by little my performance did not really overall improvement except for highly quantitive subjects during my University degree ( econ major ), I had to stay to stay one more year , I realized bit by bit that it was the drag of the past that in many ways affecting my , and my grandma did not really help me to see and visit back my mother which was a constant pain for me till this day , HOWEVER , I did not give up like others would do , I had to work side by side during my Uni period , and managed to get a good distinction at my bachelor and now I'm moved to other country where I can finish my master degree , but again it is not that easy , but once I get it done -but I have to find a way first to see back and visit my mother -, I will come back to this post and let all the world know that I can still do it , the moral of the story is relative position to peers matters but equally important in my experience , relative position to your external circumstances do matter and how given the lack of the right emotional upbringing can be a huge challenge in itself . Keep it up , you are born to be wild

Based on experience with child at a prestigious Ivy engineering program - engineering instruction even today is academic hazing rather that academic encouragement. The system and instructors conspire to weed out all but the top of the class even though ALL are superior talents. And, unlike the real world, group success is under-emphasized. Malcolm, you are on the right track.

MIND BLOWN!!!!

wow..thats the way you prove your point!

Wow! Such a great speech.

It's all about confidence! Self belief matters more than your degree!

I've been in Harvard/MIT science labs. In my experience, it has nothing to do with a relative deprivation 'of self', but rather a relative deprivation of focused mentorship / multi-paper publishable projects. Every well-established lab has a ton of core work to do for large grants that keep the lab running but only result in a paper every two or 3 years. For the risky new stuff, timely publications is so important (you don't want to get scooped) that a PI/lab manager will always choose your best students to work on those projects in their "spare time" while everyone else gets stuck 'calibrating the instruments', managing the inventory, or following up on less promising data with theirs.

There is a point where intelligence barely matters and only work ethic, discipline and luck determine how you do in school. I am certain that a very small fraction of drop-outs are due to just not being smart enough.

Well thought out and discussed opinions. Good Journalist.

i think he has some points. when you think you are smart due to your lack of exposure to smarter people, you are more confident and daring than you would be if you were surrounded by smart people. But by going to lesser competitive schools so you can feel better about yourself is not the same as going to more competitive school and actually fight your path through a train of capable opponents. Of course not everyone has the appetite for an overachieved life. But it prepares you for a "eat or be eaten" world out there.

Gladwell on a bad air day is the same as a Gladwell on a good air day: brilliant, funny, interesting, and enjoyable.

as an ex hairdresser I have fleeting dreams of working on Malcom's hair

I don't think it's about confidence like says- more about structure and incentives. Professors don't want to go at the speed of the bottom 3rd of the class because the top students would get bored, so the less talented kids can't keep up. In any given school, professors take their pick of students and choose the best ones to work with. You don't have to invoke confidence as a mechanism.

The new book is very good! I'm halfway through it now.

Excellent!

Solely speaking on what he spoke in regards to kids dropping out of math and science courses. My issue with math and science is that a lot of it is based off of memory and not much understanding. For me, if I don't understand the purpose of something, it will forever be alien to me. I have a hard time seeing the "logic" within those equations.

outstanding... !!

Wonderful watch.

this was a really enjoyable talk!

Gladwell always seems to marshall interesting and reveaiing perspectives on how things are working. At 17:11 he says something that seems to come out of Nonduality related to the Relative and the Absolute! :) Ha. Talking with Strangers his new book is crammed with these kinds of experiments and insights and review of studies and literature.

amazing..

“This is the first time I have used PowerPoint”...by Microsoft...at a Google conference. LOL. I’m betting it wasn’t PPT. But the nervous laughter in the room was priceless!

He's a beast .. Period

That's why it's best to find your most effective position and stay there until you progress then you move on.

this is so relevant

awesome explanation

At 15:50 I disagree that nobody is failing anybody. In terms of dropping out before graduating with a STEM degree, the university system is not designed as a training ground for the best minds but actively applies Relative Deprivation as a hazing mechanism. It is designed to fail students who might otherwise do extremely well if the university system were designed to cultivate talent rather than create a regime of the select few who make it through an unnecessary gauntlet. Why are we putting students in these sensory deprivation sweat boxes to begin with? If we really do want more STEM graduate success then the system has to change because we have created an artificial bottleneck. And the solution sounds as easy as creating smaller cohort group waves and making sure struggling students get the attention they need.

Might I point out that, simply getting the more able students to choose 'lesser' colleges will not improve the number of successful graduates overall. The "relative" effect will remain: those who ultimately succeed will still form the same proportion as before.

Lot of flaws in this reasoning, and many factors not taken into account. 1)comparing income between schools, but not comparing between majors 2)comparing the worst Harvard students to the best Hartwick students 3)referring to students “dropping out” of STEM majors when that’s not the same as dropping out of school entirely. They’re simply switching their major. 4)top schools have much higher graduation rates (e.g. Penn 95.5%, Penn State 73.2%, 6-year graduation rate) 5)the income comparison likely only looks at students who graduated. Since top schools have far lower dropout rates, their average/median income will decrease by much less than the average school if the income of dropouts is taken into account 6)top private universities also provide the best financial aid. Below a certain income bracket, you can qualify for free tuition, and sometimes free room and board on top of that, at most top private universities. Even above the free tuition income bracket you can still qualify for generous financial aid. Gladwell is just selling clickbait in this presentation; diminishing the best institutions to make everyone else feel better. Providing little if any credible evidence to support his claims while ignoring many valid counter-arguments.

You have to account for the quality of the published material. The threshold for submission to the best magazines from the best schools is very, very high. You have to be smart, insanely motivated, believe in what you do with religious zealotry, have an advisor who believes in you, and be lucky enough to have your research work out in order to get published at one of these institutions.

"At any college, you will always see, regardless of the level of cognitive ability among the students, you will always see the same pattern, The kids who get the science and math degrees are the ones at the top of their class and the kids in the bottom of their class never do." [15% or so in the bottom third do get their degrees. But a strong point anyway.] "We form our self-assessments based on our standing in our immediate circle..."

Here's a man who's incompetent to push slides back and forth with 2 buttons and still awes the audience about intellectual achievements. Now THAT's remarkable :)))

Damn. What a way to end that talk.

Just discovered Google Zeitgeist. The talks look good. Thanks Google. Y'all hit it out of the park, again. Jim Ps. When I think of the cognitive revolution y'all have created... I stand in awe. I'm a rainbow family, mud pit rolling, ex LSD head, so I got a pretty good education on my own but you guys amount to Angles on this Earth; available to everyone, almost for free

I hadn't read a book in four years. I picked up Outliers based on a friend's recommendation. I've flown through all of his books, and I'll watch his speeches. The guy knows shit.

That guys hair is awesome

What an interesting talk! His TED talks (like a couple of his that I summarise on my channel) are also highly recommended.

Just WOW.

very interesting way of thinking about the statistics of education and life choices.

fantastic

Makes sense!

That's cute...and informative👍

well done

he is right!!!

Right or wrong, he tells a good, compelling story

Well... This explains my life.

Toronto is far from a bad school. 22nd in the world according to Times Higher Education.

*16:00**. Don't look at the publication rates. Compare on mean income instead. That's a very different picture.*

I know a kid who got offered seats at Brooklyn tech specialised and the Beacon selective high school. She chose the latter.

the things is, the data is only regarding publishing rates and stem dropout rates. what about financial status, what about quantity of elite accolades, what about quality of the work produced. do the same trends emerge? Does the 55th percentile graduate go on to build a more successful company than the constantly scribbling 99th? What it really suggests is that self-delusion, a 'i'm special' ideology, is necessary to concoct and follow-through with challenging tasks.

LOL love it!!!

i dont think he is lacking in data science!! most of the data he uses are analyzed by others, but he is wonderful to collect such research papers and build a story around that which makes sense.

Great talk Malcolm! P.S. May be next year Yahoo should invite you to speak there and you can skip Google? :)

he’s also assuming the end goal of all people going to phd programs is to publish. maybe the person who’s 5th in the class didn’t study as hard because they didn’t plan on publishing because they wanted to exit into a finance job.