Outliers Read Online Free Page B

think that starting all-star leagues and gifted programs as early as possible is the best way of ensuring that no talent slips through the cracks. But take a look again at that roster for the Czech Republic soccer team. There are no players born in July, October, November, or December, and only one each in August and September. Those born in the last half of the year have all been discouraged, or overlooked, or pushed out of the sport.
The talent of essentially half of the Czech athletic population has been squandered.
    So what do you do if you’re an athletic young Czech with the misfortune to have been born in the last part of the year? You
can’t
play soccer. The deck is stacked against you. So maybe you could play the other sport that Czechs are obsessed with—hockey. But wait. (I think you know what’s coming.) Here’s the roster of the 2007 Czech junior hockey team that finished fifth at the world championships.
No.
Player
Birth Date
Position
1
David Kveton
Jan. 3, 1988
Forward
2
Jiri Suchy
Jan. 3, 1988
Defense
3
Michael Kolarz
Jan. 12, 1987
Defense
4
Jakub Vojta
Feb. 8, 1987
Defense
5
Jakub Kindl
Feb. 10, 1987
Defense
6
Michael Frolik
Feb. 17, 1989
Forward
7
Martin Hanzal
Feb. 20, 1987
Forward
8
Tomas Svoboda
Feb. 24, 1987
Forward
9
Jakub Cerny
Mar. 5, 1987
Forward
10
Tomas Kudelka
Mar. 10, 1987
Defense
11
Jaroslav Barton
Mar. 26, 1987
Defense
12
H. O. Pozivil
Apr. 22, 1987
Defense
13
Daniel Rakos
May 25, 1987
Forward
14
David Kuchejda
Jun. 12, 1987
Forward
15
Vladimir Sobotka  
Jul. 2, 1987
Forward
16
Jakub Kovar
Jul. 19, 1988
Goalie
17
Lukas Vantuch
Jul. 20, 1987
Forward
18
Jakub Voracek
Aug. 15, 1989  
Forward
19
Tomas Pospisil
Aug. 25, 1987
Forward
20
Ondrej Pavelec
Aug. 31, 1987
Goalie
21
Tomas Kana
Nov. 29, 1987
Forward
22
Michal Repik
Dec. 31, 1988
Forward
    Those born in the last quarter of the year might as well give up on hockey too.
    Do you see the consequences of the way we have chosen to think about success? Because we so profoundly personalize success, we miss opportunities to lift others onto the top rung. We make rules that frustrate achievement. We prematurely write off people as failures. We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of those who fail. And, most of all, we become much too passive. We overlook just how large a role we all play—and by “we” I mean society—in determining who makes it and who doesn’t.
    If we chose to, we could acknowledge that cutoff dates matter. We could set up two or even three hockey leagues, divided up by month of birth. Let the players develop on separate tracks and then pick all-star teams. If all the Czech and Canadian athletes born at the end of the year had a fair chance, then the Czech and the Canadian national teams suddenly would have twice as many athletes to choose from.
    Schools could do the same thing. Elementary and middle schools could put the January through April–born students in one class, the May through August in another class, and those born in September through December in the third class. They could let students learn with and compete against other students of the same maturity level. It would be a little bit more complicated administratively. But it wouldn’t necessarily cost that much more money, and it would level the playing field for those who—through no fault of their own—have been dealt a big disadvantage by the educational system. We could easily take control of the machinery of achievement, in other words—not just in sports but, as we will see, in other more consequential areas as well. But we don’t. And why? Because we cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don’t matter at all.
    6.
    Before the Memorial Cup final, Gord Wasden—the father of one of the Medicine Hat Tigers—stood by the side of the ice, talking about his son Scott. He was wearing a Medicine Hat