The Tortoise and the Hare | Revisionist History | Malcolm Gladwell

A weird speech by Antonin Scalia, a visit with some serious legal tortoises, and a testy exchange with the experts at the Law School Admissions Council prompts Malcolm to formulate his Grand Unified Theory for fixing higher education.
Season 4 (2019)
#podcast #revisionisthistory #malcolmgladwell
ABOUT REVISIONIST HISTORY
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every podcast episode re-examines something from the past - an event, a person, an idea, even a song - and asks whether we got it right the first time. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
ABOUT MALCOLM GLADWELL
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996. He is a trustee of the Surgo Foundation and currently serves on the board of the RAND Corporation.
ABOUT PUSHKIN INDUSTRIES
Pushkin Industries is an audio production company dedicated to creating premium content in a collaborative environment. Co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018, Pushkin has launched seven new shows into the top 10 on Apple Podcasts (Against the Rules, The Happiness Lab, Solvable, Cautionary Tales, Deep Cover, The Last Archive, and Lost Hills), in addition to producing the hugely successful Revisionist History. Pushkin’s growing audiobook catalogue includes includes the bestselling biography “Fauci,” by Michael Specter, “Hasta La Vista, America,” Kurt Andersen’s parody Trump farewell speech performed by Alec Baldwin, "Takeover" by Noah Feldman, and “Talking to Strangers,” from Pushkin co-founder Malcolm Gladwell. Pushkin is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners and inspires curiosity and joy.
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[@mathdadclt3683]

Once again, pure brilliance. But of course I'd think that, as a tortoise.

[@drlancemiller]

Spot on analysis of the limitations of the standardized tests.

[@bjdefilippo447]

Thank you for covering psychometrics in test construction. I find it fascinating, but most don't, so it doesn't get a lot of coverage unless there's an important bias case in the news.

[@tuckerfrd1]

Gladwell's suggestion of "don't ask, don't tell" for employers and grad student was like, for me - all car makers not badging their vehicles. People particularly love snobbery and "thinking" we're better due to branding whatever product or service - in this case education of lawyers. Malcolm always the fascinating, educational and entertaining.

[@kenhenson1071]

brilliant, absolutely brilliant. & the punchline was so worth the wait. I'd write more, but that would take too much time.

[@landedinlukla]

Yes! Finally someone speaks about this ridiculous dichotomy.

[@steveeuphrates-river7342]

You should have 17 billion subscribers by now!

[@michaelwhite4260]

A masterful episode of storytelling; a Gladwellian classic! I occasionally disagree with Gladwell's premises, and often with his analysis. This time absolutely he nails it! In the 30th minute we learn blue collar work experience predicts something meaningful in a lawyer's professional life. Bread crumbs of a future episode here.

[@HostMPBWY]

First time listener. Love the podcast! Will definitely subscribe and listen more.

[@IL2CG]

I love the ending of these two episodes! Just love it!

[@kimberknutson831]

Brilliant. For whatever it is worth, I am a 59 year-old American woman who happens to have advanced degrees in English Literature and am retired from teaching English Literature and Academic Writing. I have fairly recently come to the conclusion that intellectual intelligence matters, but emotional intelligence matters most in the human experience. Human beings are biological organisms that are comprised of a complex group of systems that work together when the "organism" is functioning well. In such cases, the "intellectual system" and the "emotional system" inform one another. I have known many people with PhDs who I consider stupid. Ignorance is fine in that it just means not knowing. Stupidity, on the other hand, is almost always willful and self-serving. The Orange, bloviating would-be tyrant who, unfortunately, used to occupy the White House is a case in point. He will probably have plenty of time to consider such things from his prison cell, as though he will ever have a "come to Jesus" moment. Of course, not. I am not a vengeful person, but Karma is real. Anyhoo, I really enjoyed this. Thank you. Of course, I also liked and subscribed. : )

[@guskringen7787]

Strong argument and astute observation by Kimber, but the piece doesn’t seem to address the financial/resource aspect of the legal system, that “speed” is partially if not greatly driven by the lack of resources available to handle the volume of cases. So, that would incentivize the system to look for those who are the fastest, and may tend to bend against fairness. This should change, but we have to start with acknowledging the fundamental resource issue, and taxes. No one likes more taxes, and it’s hard to be elected on that platform, greatly because the vast majority of people are not directly impacted by the legal system, or at least conscious of it. Not unlike the Covid crisis, not enough people died to motivate the majority of people to get the vaccine until it had more widely spread. Trump and social media, misinformation contributed as well. Keep up the great work Malcolm but you might devote a segment on the resource aspect, how we can address that. All the best…

[@kimberknutson831]

@@guskringen7787 Agreed and well considered and stated. Thanks. : )

[@vapixel]

Huzzah, Huzzah. Kimber has finally reached the obvious conclusion that emotional intelligence reigns supreme. Even from a English Lit teacher.

[@kimberknutson831]

@vapixel What an A**hole. "Thank you" for taking precious time out of your busy day to say something condescending, sanctimonious, pedantic, and rude. People like you who encounter openness and authenticity in people like me often deliver pissy barbs like you did to mask a deep and abiding insecurity that someone like me will expose you as the "superior" fraud that you are. Irony, sarcasm, and satire are generally markers of intelligence, but they can easily turn into hostility in the hands of a weak narcissist. I happen to have the great fortune of living in Hawaii. Aloha.

[@coolworx]

Talk about your TDS.

[@josephdegreeff9470]

It just doesn't matter is the classic chant from Meatballs the movie!

[@katherineozbirn6426]

You brought also wisdom of life; whereas, your assistant was younger, she needed, perhaps, the depth of life you have.

[@viscountav]

Still an entertaining podcast to listen to 👍 The "mirrortocracy", exists in every institution really. In a lot of companies they say they want a diverse set of people and backgrounds, but they don't really want people who speak against their ideas..

[@MarcoBonechi]

Moneyball for everything. Genius.

[@bettydean4149]

I loved it 😍....i want to know now...😅😊...this was great

[@voodenpkeh33]

Wonderful

[@Bestape]

As a tortoise within a hare, I very much sympathize with your perspective. There's a contradiction, though. If SCOTUS only hires from certain schools, then only those law schools offer that life experience. Disallowing people freedom isn't an optimal solution. One of the reasons I left Canada, in fact. Our national reaction to Fairy Creek and Freedom Convoy was far too totalitarian without adequate countervailance. One of my 1L peers at Western Law in Canada was poached by Harvard because she could write twice as fast as the second fastest writer (me). AI will impact the value of this information overload trial by combat strategy. To discover (c-b)/a scale-symmetry, a True law, I had to be a tortoise within a hare. Composite materials for the win. #spacetimescale Thank you, I enjoyed this!

[@bobcornwell403]

I'd go even further. I'd scrap the idea of meritocracy itself. The problem with any meritocracy system is that it is relatively difficult to set up and relatively easy to hack. SATs and ACTs are a prime example of this. I'd seriously consider replacing straight meritocracy with a hybrid of meritocracy and random chance to fill top spots. A minimum competency level can be set for the applicants. And those who met that level would be selected from by a lottery system. This way, everyone who made it would not only have their hard work and talent to thank, but also plain old luck. And this would be obvious to everyone.

[@llewodcm20]

Meritocracy is self evident, natural, and self correcting. What are you talking about?

[@cherylcarlson3315]

I wanted to know what level law schools they could get into and if they did any prep.

[@cowabunga123]

Make 2 different tests like the SAT and ACT: SAT - more suitable for the tortoises, slower, longer texts (although this doesn't apply now with the DSAT). ACT - more suitable for the hares, faster, shorter, concise texts. benchmarks still similar, still by definition standardized tests.

[@willmpet]

I was able to choose people to be in my group. I worked very hard to get some well-reputed people. I took one at the end who was I’ll-reputed. He turned out to be the very best person. The well-reputed people were useless. I learned my lesson. You don’t know.

[@jaimejaimeChannel]

Again, when you make reference to the previous episode, please state it here. Thanks. No idea what is the previous episode.

[@kweli_thegreat]

University of Toronto only has 600 law students , that's Harvard numbers . So you can't quite compare undergraduate numbers with that of law schools . and the solution being why not just make the school bigger has a lot of holes. Bigger means you need more teachers if you don't have more teachers and just make the class sizes bigger that gives a higher student to teacher ratio lowering quality of education by most standards. Also in America the level of competition and sheer amount of colleges is so much more vast that you can't compare it the Canadian universities

[@pelhambissell2926]

Don’t Ask , Don’t Tell , DON’T PURSUE Just like the US military the law firms would ignore the Don’t Pursue rule :(

[@Pops2]

Top employers use the college enrollment/vetting system to weed out the wheat from the chaff.😢 Also...Malcom Gladwell Esquire has a nice ring to it. Congratulations on your passing scores.

[@brimendis]

Anyone have the link to part one?

[@SelfReflective]

Interesting.

[@docadams1]

Discriminiation is the point, quite literally. Law schools must discriminate for filling seats, presumably due to their limited ability to teach more than a specific number of students. Those constraints also lack full justification.

[@MrPendell]

As a Canadian, I have to take issue with what Mister Gladwell is talking about at around the 27 minute mark. While Canada’s primary and secondary school systems clearly and incontrovertibly leave the statistical average outcomes of corresponding US systems in the dust, I believe there is excellent evidence that the superior graduates of the Canadian education system are not, in fact, well served by Canadian elite post secondary institutions which have chosen to stretch their tents to accommodate ever greater numbers of students, rather than focusing on providing the highest quality education for smaller numbers of students.

[@bim-ska-la-bim4433]

Explain further, please.

[@pamgallagher9778]

I love love love you, this brilliant, eye opening topic and the end results!!!❤❤❤❤😂🎉

[@pamgallagher9778]

And I've always said I'm the tortoise, not the hare. I'm 77. I subscribe and am always in awe of your brilliance

[@Redmenace96]

Can't find the link to part 1. Can anyone direct me?

[@drakewinwest9888]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJ-rdpalbqh8Y6M

[@kevinjohnston8399]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJ-rdpalbqh8Y6M If the link doesn't work, the name of the episode is "Puzzle Rush"

[@Pops2]

Because I pahked the caaa in Haaaavaaad yaaaaad, they know where I went to school 😅

[@phillipettress9569]

Great, I like you end argument. Still as far a test...the test is what is. Also your argument proves, human that are held in high regard such Justice Sal... should not be...and their decisions are more questionable

[@9doggie12]

I need evidence that high LSAT scorers make better lawyers

[@xaviernavy]

Here because of Theo… gang.

[@jimiverson3085]

At this point, the US would be better off if Harvard and Yale and the other "top" law schools burned to the ground and we then salted the earth.

[@gsilcoful]

Wonderf stuff.

[@mas2913]

About time really...goes to show you how we tend to blindly revere so called icons and/or star candidates for safety. I think the proven data goes beyond law schools

[@pamgallagher9778]

I LOVE YOUR WORK M. G.

[@pamgallagher9778]

P.S. I'm 77 and have always called myself the tortoise. 😂

[@davidwilkie9551]

Malcolm is an acknowledged expert in narratives. A "Grant Unified Theory" is the right title, for the perfect delusion of solid substance elements. isolated from physical existence. It is the reason, by way of a false declaration of fact, that discrete abstractions are admissible as evidence, when a real-time relative-timing sum-of-all-histories is Euler's factual establishment of Relativity demonstrated the Totality of communication connections as superimposed log-antilog nodal-vibrational emitter-receiver interference positioning resonance, ie modulation phenomena in/of the Unit Circle here-now-forever attribute, the Centre of Time Duration Timing. "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" is a default recognition of "Metaphysics", the Universal Orientation to metastable proportioning probability cause-effect in/of Eternity-now Interval, this Conception Superposition-point Actuality. A marvellous equivalence Principle noted, that a Quant and a Lawyer believe that "It's not just a good idea, it's the Law!", based on deliberate ignorance of Observable Actuality, of empirical shaping laws of Eternity-now.

[@Splinter8859]

That was great although I think it was Susan Dey’s fault lol L.A Law pencil skirts & heels. Those scales of justice need adjusting The business of incarceration is pretty eye watering per annum. even here in Australia we have sold out to your pyramid marketing scheme Incarceration Nation sellout As Above So below ain’t it ? 🙃

[@rafa374]

AND DO PREDICTORS PREDICT? You are assuming people don't and can't change. How many deadbeats and half beats still become winners in the end? Fix your fix Mr Gladwell.

[@phillipettress9569]

To win a baseball ⚾️ game I change the rules...and maybe for the better. The game is not design to be fare for all...the game is base ball.

[@phillipettress9569]

Malcolm, The test is what the test is. Again. The IS, what the test is. I hope this enough for you to contact me.