"The Matthew Effect"

          Gladwell clearly states that he personally does not believe that hard work and talent alone can lead to success, he makes the point that there are certain circumstances that a person can attribute to their success whether they realize it or not. He points out that the boys who are born very close to the cutoff date in hockey have an unfair advantage because they are bigger and more developed than the other boys that are competing for the same positions. While Gladwell makes a good point, I find it hard to believe that a person's birthday can be the only reason for their success. It is strongly apparent that being the older player is an advantage to have, but it should not affect the success of so many people so drastically. In my opinion, such a small variable should not be the primary factor between success and failure, because there are so many more things that are a part of the equation; many of them being choices such as being a hard worker.
          People can always make the choice to work harder, stay later, and to sacrifice more in order to achieve greatness, but I feel like Gladwell completely ignores this fact in this chapter of Outliers. He only focuses on one variable that leads to the success of hockey players, but it is important to point out that these men were most likely also some of the hardest working men in their profession. I understand that Gladwell has a good amount of evidence and analogies to support his ideas, but it is also very clear to me that throughout this passage he sounds very narrow-minded. He just continues on and on about the hockey players and their astrological signs, but refuses to touch on anything else. He could have researched the areas where the players grew up or the family history and how invested in hockey the families were, but instead he is singularly focused on one thing. I am not saying that it is a bad thing to focus one's research on a certain variable, but it is extremely important that we, as readers, take note of this fact and take what Gladwell says with a grain of salt.