Summary on Outlier Chapter 8
"Rice Paddies and Math Tests"
In Malcolm Gladwell's Outlier Chapter 8 "Rice Paddies and Math Tests", he states that people who work hard and spend more hours on work are successful. He uses two examples to support his statement; there are farmers in Southern China who plant rice paddies and Asians who are good at math. In the first example, he writes that rice paddies farmers spend more time farming and they really care about growing rice. Because the work to plant rice paddies is more complicated, it requires them to work harder than other types of farmers. Rice farmers work about 3000 hours a year compares to others hunters or farmers. Gladwell thinks people who are willing to spend these much of time on farming must be able to make the family rich and be successful. The second examples he states that students from those rice paddies farming area are more likely to do well on math. Besides the number-naming system difference between Asian and the West (Asian number-naming system is less complicated than the West's, it is one of the reasons why Asians are more interested in and good at math), Asian students usually spend more time on study. This makes them do better on math than students from the West, according to Gladwell. The two examples of Renee and the TIMSS test he writes support his point of people spend more time on math are more likely to do well on it. This chapter is about stating that success is functions of unremitting and more time spend on work. (pp. 224-250)
