interpretive essay comments

7/30/2019 Interpretive Essay Comments

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Ashton Jordan

Professor Padgett

English 1102

10 March 2013

Title?

To be a Nobel Prize winner, apparently, you have to be smart enough to get into

a college at least as good as Notre Dame or the University of Illinois. Thats all.(Chapter

3) When Gladwell writes The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1 he gives the reader the

mindset that if you do not attend an Ivy League college that your chances of being

successful, or making a difference in society are not as high. All though this is not

entirely incorrect due to the fact that many employers look at the top schools such as

Harvard, Yale, and Cornell when choosing future employees. There are many examples

in history where children that seem odd or different during their childhood become

huge successes in society. Stephen Hawking, a renowned theoretical physicist did not

know how to read or write until he was seven years old but is now known as the smartest

man in the world.

Oddly, out of the past 25 Nobel Prize winners only three were graduates of

prestigious universities such as Harvard, and MIT. Gladwell expresses that all though a

high IQ is necessary to an extant, but once it is over 130 the impact it makes on you being

successful is slim. Lewis Terman, a Stanford psychology professor conducted one of the

most famous psychology experiments when he went to several hundred elementary and

high schools to find future geniuses. Before Terman conducted his analysis he asked

every teacher who his or her most gifted students were and refused to experiment on

Formatted: Centered

Comment [AP1]: I feel like he is b

little glib though right? Also, do youconsider winning the Nobel Prize t

criteria by which one can be succe

Comment [AP2]: What do you methis? Do you mean slow, geeky, shy

are you implying?

Comment [AP3]: According to wh

the smartest man in the world? He

the smartest or at least one of the l

theatrical physicists, but who crow

the smartest person in the world?


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anyone other than the so-called prodigies. He had over 40 test subjects during the

course of his experiment. During the course of his experiment, which lasted about two

years, he gave the children several IQ tests, and creativity tests. The creativity tests were

designed to see how they worked out problems in their head, and how they analyze

literature in a broad perspective. I believe that this is not a true way to test an adolescents

intelligence. At that early of an age a childs brain has not even developed a fourth of its

capacity. For children early in their childhood the test that would maximize great results

would be the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. This test does not involve and

reading or writing but still analyzes a childs cognitive ability. The test includes picture

concepts, matrix analyses, and word reasoning. To give an adolescent a mathematical or

literature test at that early on does not give you a precise result.

Through out my childhood I always dreamed of going to a prestigious university

such as Harvard, and Lehigh College. I believe when a child has dreams, and a positive

environment surrounding them any child can go to any college they want. A strong

mindset is crucial when going to school. Studies show that children with no supportive

parents or positive environment are 82% likely not to even finish the tenth grade.

(Gardner-Webb) Going through school I always had a strong parental involvement when

it came to my grades. With my parents being very strict with grades it pushed me to be

the best student I could be. As well as following my dreams, I always wanted to make my

parents proud. The problem with most children in the era is the fact that they do not have

a strong support system. During Termans experiment he also analyzed the childs

support system, and how involved each childs parents were with their education. He

Comment [AP4]: Ive already reabook. Why are summarizing all of tneed your thoughts, your

analysis/interpretation.

Comment [AP5]: What do you me

this? Kids today dont have suppor

did generations before? If so, what do you have to support this?


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realized that the more a parent is involved in a childs academics the harder a child will

strive to please both the parent and there self.

The result of his experiment showed that none of his geniuses made great strives

in society. All though they were pretty wealthy, his hypothesis was incorrect when he

stated that there would be huge strives in medicine, art, government, education, and many

Nobel Prize Winners. There were two students at an elementary school in California that

his field agents studied but decided that their IQ was not to their standards so they did not

choose to make further tests on them. These two students ended up winning the Nobel

Prize.

Comment [AP6]: Im not sure whpoint of this paragraph is or how it

to your thesis. But I also dont knowyour thesis is.

Comment [AP7]: Okay, I dont reawhat you doing with the article her

like you largely summarize the boo

opposed to adding your specific ins

Also, there isnt a clear thesis. I likeyou bring in your own personal exp

but Im not seeing how that personexperience contributes to the essay

whole. I think if you come up with a

well-defined thesis, you would be a

make these elements tie in more cl

give urgency and purpose to your e


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Autobiography

Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Trouble with Geniuses: Part 1." Outliers: The Story of Success.

New York: Little, Brown and, 2008. 69-91. Print.

Brown, Robert, Dr. "School of Psychology and Counseling." Gardner-Webb Psychology.

N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. .

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