He contextualizes his argument by comparing IQ scores to basketball players’ height. As formerly noted with sports, the taller stronger players are favored but after a specific height, skill and knowledge of the game are now the concentration (Gladwell,80). The same goes with IQ scores after the threshold of 120 other factors such as opportunity; practical intelligence and family background can alter a person’s success. A true example of this analogy is Michael Jordan. He comes from a successful middle-class family who raised him to avoid the streets and persist in his dreams. This pushed him to be the greatest basketball player and entrepreneur of all time with incredible records and high-demand shoe line. On the other hand, Lempert states…show more content… According to psychologist Robert Sternberg ’practical intelligence’ altered their success. “Practical intelligence include things like knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and know how to say it for maximum effect”. (101). Critical thinking is attainable by some people but that doesn’t mean every genius has this creative side. Luckily for Oppenheimer, he had the right amount of analytical and practical intelligence. Gladwell introduced another study by sociologist Annette Lareau who followed twelve third grader families. She discovered two parenting ’philosophies’ dominated; the wealthier families consumed their kids time with sports and activities while teaching them responsibility, time-management, and entitlement. While the less fortunate families were submissive to authorities, they taught their children that creativity is a character trait and they let them be self-reliant (102-108). This study highlighted Terman’s flaw, to conclude the students who are able to make something out of themselves while beating the odds of their cultural background are the real outliers (112). I agree with Gladwell’s idea because it does take a number of trained and acquired skills or opportunity to become
