Outliers and Development

This is a collection of anecdotes centered around a theme.

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell discusses how early success causes eventual success. He uses an example of Canadian hockey players. Most professional Canadian hockey players are born in the months January, February, March. Why? Junior leagues count age starting at January 1st so players born in early months are older/larger/faster than other players in the same year. These players are preferentially selected for better leagues, get more training, and move higher. A small advantage early in life sets the tone for eventual success.

I am a professional computer scientist/mathematician. Slightly less glamorous but comparatively competitive to professional Hockey. I blame my success on my parents. I have two anecdotes - both involve my father - despite not being mentioned here my mother likely deserves most of the credit.

1) My father gave me little math puzzles before they appeared in school. What is the next number in this sequence? 1, 3, 5, 7, __? How about this one? 2, 4, 8, 14, 22, __? I was bored and challenged. Kids have lots of free time and curiosity.

2) My father would put small dollar-store toys in inconvenient but obvious locations. He would then leave for work saying that "If I could get the toy then it was mine." I would think for a while, get a chair and a broom handle and retrieve the toy being rewarded both with parental praise and with exploding pop rocks. The next day a new toy would be in the same place but the chairs and broom handles would be missing.

A friend of mine is going to work for the Ounce of Prevention fund, an organization that focuses on child development before the age of 5. If a child is raised in a home with parent(s) less awesome than mine they will go to school and will likely be told that they are dumb; they will believe it; it will become true. There is wasted economic value in this child.