-:QQC:- David and Goliath Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell
Reading Malcolm Gladwell for me is a treat. A treat that I like experiencing again and again! I have always admired his ‘data wise’ books and writing skills and the way he responds to his critics. He certainly convinces his readers with the data! It is one’s ability to look at this data and agree: alternatively, disagree with his work. Having met him in person and having heard him at a conference makes it more meaningful for me! It was in 2008 that I first interacted with him at a conference, when he was just two books old! His writing and essays were certainly getting popular and he had in his book Outliers introduced the concept of 10,000 hours!!
A concept that all Masters must experience and must know :-)
As I read this I feel connected to the title, Misfits and Underdogs! I feel connected with the art of fighting giants! History has proven that it is misfits and underdogs who have always surprised the high and mighty!
My interpretation of this book and title is a bit different. For me, there exists a David and a Goliath in each one of us. Our fears, our apprehensions, our inabilities, our anger, our frustration and many other negative thoughts make the David in us a small and meek person and we hide ourselves in the shadow of Goliath. We then surrender to helplessness and forget that it is “I” who has to take charge and fight this battle.... we unnecessarily keep waiting.... waiting for Godot?
I also found similar connections in mythology and how I wish we had analyses of all the ‘Wamans’ killing ‘Virats’ or when I see Chota Bhim.... and kids getting fascinated while adults get irritated!! I see David in a new Avatar!! Can this be introduced to kids and students with the slogan - “I CAN do this” rather than – “What crazy stuff!!”? Our systems need more of misfits and underdogs, to challenge the systems to change for the better, in order to bring fresh air, into the suffocating environs of the claustrophobic class room scenario!
It is worth noting why kids get fascinated with the Davids in Chota Bhim! These serials are a source of heroic energy for them and in their fantasy world, they would want to create a system, which has the ability to fight suppression, or the so-called reality, created and lived/believed in, by cynical/defeated adults who invariably scoff at this alternate reality, calling it nothing more than irrational fantasy.
We as teachers need to create the environment of “You Can” instead of “You could fail”. At times, adults around kids transmit these bugs into their subconscious minds and then they get paralysed... wait for things to change, wait for spoon feeding and wait for a superman, may be to rescue/ salvage them!!
Do we as teachers, as adults in the world of children... listen and respond? Or have we our exclusive agendas represented by our syllabus, curriculum and exam that drive us and drive kids away from us?
Ever since I read this book, I have not stopped thinking about myself and the questions that I have found answers to! Yes, this book is a good reflective tool... As a student volunteer in the late 80’s, I worked with a hospital and was a volunteer with its blood bank. Blood was collected in glass bottles and was preserved for 3 months. After 3 months, all unwed bottles either had to be discarded, or after extracting plasma (irrespective of blood group) the remains would be discarded. One fine day, the glass bottles were replaced by plastic bags. Not many were aware of the reasons for the change and for those who had questions, there weren’t many answers; and if at all the answers existed, they involved issues in transportation! (Yes- there were some stray incidents, where bottles would fall and one would lose the blood!!- In fact, there was a checklist given to patients and donors and people who carried blood from the bank to the hospitals for ensuring safety.) Ultimately it was while reading Dr Frereich’s story, that I could connect with the correct reasons for shifting to plastic pouches - for they stored plasma for a longer period and the loss was minimal. A classic example of collective intelligence failure, in understanding how a person’s mission to find solutions, changed the way we stored blood and gave a new lease of life to young (mainly kids) leukemia patients.
My question to self: What is my burning question that will change the way I look at syllabus, interact, teach and become a co-learner with my students?
Do I have deeper questions? Or have I merely followed trial and error as strategy, and not reflected enough upon experiential learning in these many years?
Is my experience and the number of years that I have put in in this field, creating an effect of “Glaucoma”? (It is a condition in which patients develop blind spots and if not treated/ corrected, individuals are left with blind spots and are completely blind at particular angles!). These blind spots are signs of over confidence and lead one to believe that change is not necessary, not required, and all those who seek change have not understood the system and are rebelling, as they do not want to follow a system that is well designed – thereby reinforcing the creation of followers!
Do I have the required courage to take the tasks forward, or will I give up, hoping that it will change one day on its own? ….Endlessly waiting for someone else to take charge and bring in the change! Where did Dr Frereich get his courage from? Who is my source of courage? …Inspiration? What is the elusive factor in my case/situation/quest that I really want?
For me, David and Goliath is a book about what happens when ordinary people (each one of us, that gets conditioned by the responses and reactions that we receive from family, peers, and society, thereby reducing our ability to believe in ourselves; and instead, trying desperately to live up to the image created by the expectations of others) confront giants. By giants, I mean powerful opponents of all kinds. What is it that I am, and who am I actually battling? All such battles are always won by underdogs and misfits and this phenomenon is happening for centuries. Yet, we fear the giants and underestimate underdogs. David and Goliath has come to be embedded in our language as a metaphor for (improbable) victory.
As teachers, administrators and parents, we have various battles to fight and when we reflect upon what Vivek Randive ,Teresa DeBrito, Carolina Sacks or other characters in this book share with us, we realise they are revealing to us, a very different world!... A world that is (almost) utopian and exists in our minds, in our thoughts, in our conversations with ourselves.... but is not tangible enough as yet. Utopian world is very fascinating and exciting, as it claims to be a world which is “just perfect”, where everyone is treated as equal! Mankind’s journey (political) and the emergence of Democracy is the result of this idea of a utopian existence, where each person respects the other and the belief/motto is largely - “You are - therefore I am”! Each civilisation, generation, community, family- the smallest unit wants to achieve this and somewhere ends up enlisting in the fight of misfits and underdogs....For that matter:- What similarities exist between me and Teresa DeBrito? How does working with different age groups and interacting with people coming from different socio- economic background, help us look at the age old debate about class sizes?
What kind of action research/ project/ orientation will help my school, my community to understand the nitty-gritty of class size, parenting, issues with parenting and outcomes of issues with parenting that impact my class room environment? Do I have “ immigrants to wealth” in my class and do i have a strategy to work on with these groups? How do I nurture these Davids?
My question to self: Isn’t schooling, parenting across the globe similar and issues exactly the same, with the only difference being the language that it gets communicated in? And don’t the similarities lie in the focus on the role of teachers/ schools and the teaching fraternity?
“I wanted to have more freedom. I wanted to aspire to have different things. Money was a tool that I could use for my aspiration and my desires and my drive,” he said. “Nobody taught me that. I learned it. It was kind of like trial and error. I liked the juice of it. I got some self-esteem from it. I felt more control over my life.” Page 63
Isn’t this story that of each one of us? Do we all not want this freedom? But the million dollar question is, how many of us are willing to go through the rigour of trial and error and learn the same, in a way that is long lasting and ethical, without shortcuts!
Everyone wants to control life and yet, apparently no one wants to pay the price for the same. I am kind of lost in graphs and wonder how true is this representation irrespective of the country and the differences in the currency! Is this middle class mentality? The author also comes from a middle class background, his father is a math teacher- (he may have made more money by his writing now).... he too could be an immigrant to wealth and maybe he is also facing similar parenting issues? I am certainly lost in graphs...
“The Salon was the Big Pond. But it was very hard to be anything at the Salon but a Little Fish.” Page 97
It took me a lot of introspection to understand the concept of the big pond and a little fish! Yes, I cannot still claim that i have clearly understood the phrase and state whether I will be happy being a big fish in a little pond, or a little fish in a big pond! It is more to do with human nature I guess! We all want to have Big ponds and crave to be Big fishes, and by the time we figure out this game that we play with ourselves, we have almost lost many a precious thing, that can never be brought back and consistently, we as mankind have failed to understand, interpret and teach this concept to the generations that come... we introduce them to Goliaths’ and forget to introduce David- the one that resides in ourselves... we keep looking for the same externally.
“In 1873, Pissarro and Monet proposed that the Impressionists set up a collective called the Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs. There would be no competition, no juries, and no medals. Every artist would be treated as an equal. ” Page 97
Where have we lost this collective understanding which could emerge 140 years ago and which was based on equality?
The challenge in 1873 was to advance without worrying about opinions!
We claim that we have grown, we have changed, we are more advanced and more connected globally now.... are we really? Aren’t our issues still the very same? Do we not worry about opinions? How many students get denied entry to sciences and humanities because of our decisions? Are our decisions enabling them or are we labelling them? Can we really afford to forget, that this world and system were created by people who never went to schools? The same challenge is faced by PBL today! And it is advancing without worrying about opinion.... it is creating that niche for the concept and that will lead the generations to come...
“David Boies:- You wouldn’t wish dyslexia on your child. Or would you?” This has left me numb!
I read and re- read and re-re-read the chapter, so much that we ensured a shared reading with our small group and felt dwarfed and stunted with achievements in labelling ! Can adults indeed be so cruel? Why are schools and issues across the globe for those who are unable fit in, so very similar? Are we all same? Do we not have differences? Do we not want our own identity? Then why expect students to fall in line? Will we appreciate the same kind of behaviour for our self that we give to others? This also takes me to my work with special needs students and students from slums- who have capacities - capacities beyond our imagination.... we truly do not know what John Holt says.... how children learn and why children fail!! (Both these books are a must read for adults)
“We often think of authority as a response to disobedience: a child acts up, so a teacher cracks down. Stella’s classroom, however, suggests something quite different: disobedience can also be a response to authority. If the teacher doesn’t do her job properly, then the child will become disobedient.” Page 271
The unit, schools, systems across city, state, and nation are full of students who have potential and have been labelled, ignored, and marked for life - their strengths and weaknesses are more due to our inability to understand them and work with them. Such is the impact of labelling, that even when you interact with them with politeness and dignity and if they score a decent grade, their self-esteem is unable to accept the same!!! The art and craft of shifting and labelling students that we practice in our school systems and how we ignore the research is truly mesmerising!! There exists a darker side to this research also....most inmates in prisons across the globe are these defiant people, who were unable to mend themselves, find and fend for their calling, and may be constant rejections and their own defiance took them on this path from where there is rarely any comeback! (Gregory David Roberts, the author of the book “Shantaram” could be an exception).
We need people who understand people, at all levels, be it in school, society, the police or judiciary! As a teacher, as co-learner I keep modifying my expectations, based on the reactive responses that students give for them to understand and absorb the value in being proactive and i am sure my efforts - our efforts will not dissipate, they in fact will have an impact on them.... it is a matter of time...a time that i may not be able to see or enjoy the fruit! It is like planting a seed and for other generations to enjoy the fruits. Reading this book reminds me of a mirror, covered with fog, steam! One has two options - to wait for the environment to change and then “see” things clearly... or one has to simply act.... wipe the mirror .... action is what transforms the blurred image and brings in clarity! Thanks Malcolm! …for bringing in this clarity in looking at various aspects that impact our daily life ….and of course the debate continues.... “I wasn’t born that way. This was forced upon me.” Page 289