Book Review- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Good book. I think I liked Outliers so much that I have a hard time calling this one great. It's certainly worth reading by anyone. His main thesis is there remains a 'point' at which things, movements, trends, fads, plagues, 'tip'. They all-of-the-sudden grow or decline at incredible rates. What fascinated me was his first point about spreading a message. He designates three groups: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors are important because they obviously connect people and things. Gladwell defines Mavens are experts in their field. They are important because they ultimately decide how "well" something works and what changes need to occur before it can become marketable. Salesmen obviously sell the item in question and market it to the right people. Sorry for the Cliff Notes version, but one of my biggest qualms with book reviews is too much review and not enough dialogue. So here's the dialogue portion......

I was thinking about what this means for education, and I have come up with the following:

1. Schools need people who realize that students have a "tipping point".
This is why we (educators) work so hard. Eventually, even the most difficult situations can be improved and once success has increased everything to a certain point, things will grow considerably. I guess this is what people meant with, "stay the course."

2. Faculties need Salesmen, Connectors, and Mavens.
I consider myself a Maven-Salesmen mutant. All three can be powerful forces in schools, and the good news is they don't have to all come from the faculty. Administrators are crucial here. They are often in charge of selling messages, concepts, and ideas to faculty, students, and parents. This can be difficult. Consider the faculty member who is an expert in their subject area as they enter administration. You would hope they understand their "salesmen" role. Also, consider the faculty member who can communicate well with anyone yet has a hard time with subject matter (good knowledge, poor pedagogy). They might be better administrators. Enter the argument: the best teachers don't always make the best administration and vise versa.

3. Knowing yourself and playing to your strengths is important.
I often walk into schools that have weak arts programs. When I learn more, the tendency seems to be trying to accomplish too much. If your a band director and you're not good at marching band, it would be a good idea to NOT put too much into it. Focus on your strengths. If you WANT to be good, great, find some marching band Mavens and get after it! Kids need to experience excellent. I think we've stretched kids so much in schools that they struggle to understand what sacrifice and hard work to a few groups is all about. Think about this, we have increased extra-curricular sports but participation hasn't increased at the same rate. Yes, it is better to offer more, but many kids play three sports locking out others. Obviously this is a gross generalization. Many students do quite well in multiple activities. I'm more focused on the arts programs that do too much. How many schools have excellent arts programs? (I'm sure at least one of you has said, well, define excellent.) They do exist and there are many excellent arts teachers and many great examples of student work, but as I think of the local schools in Chicago, only a few jump out as excellent. What will it take for the other schools to tip?