Gladwell’s books deal with his unique perspective on culture. In David
and Goliath, the “challenges [us] how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.”
He shares a story about a woman who loved and excelled at science. This woman sailed through high school at the top of her class, taking classes at the junior college and even scoring a near perfect on AP exams. She applied and was accepted into Brown University. However, at Brown, she became a small fish in a big pond. She ended up dropping out of science, which was tragic since she loved science and excelled at it. But the problem was that she was comparing herself to her fellow students. Gladwell surmises that if one were to rank all the students taking organic chemistry like this woman did, she would have probably been in the top 1% of her class. Instead, she was a Little Fish is one of the deepest and most competitive ponds in the country. She felt inadequate and left the field. On page 93, Gladwell, states that “the small pond maximizes your chances to do whatever you want.”
Trinity is a small pond. Those of you who have RSVP’d to our Why Trinity? night tomorrow will hear a frank and honest look at Trinity’s Upper School—what we are and what we are not…..One thing is for sure: Your student will be a big fish in a small pond. And, he or she will learn to swim well before moving into deeper waters.
Linda Kawakami
Director of Educational Services