Malcolm Gladwell Goes After Conan’s Alma Mater | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

I've noticed that you there's a chapter. of this book that you have not mentioned. at all which is for reasons that I think. will become obvious okay it's the. chapter where I attack Harvard. University you're on my water I'm. all I'm all in favor of attacking. Harvard University extended there is an. extended assault I was you know I wasn't. hiding from that chapter there's so much. to talk about but you talk about how it. starts with Harvard has a women's rugby. team yeah and I and you and you.

basically say why why and you go ahead. you take it the by the way I was on the. women's rugby team I got a scholar. that's how I got my scholarship um the. uh you should first of all I should say. parenthetically that no one spends more. time attacking the ivy league than me. it's my I was that's why God put me on. the Sur I feel that's my yeah I've done. it so many times on my podcast that. whenever I come up with my new attack. which I do every year just everyone just. in the room just rolls their eyes um.

that's we could do a whole put Malcolm. on the couch why is he so obsessed with. them but put that aside the particular. argument here is based on I'm trying to. figure out Harvard University where you. attended uh is I can't hide from that. anymore you can't hide from that anymore. 1981 to 85 yeah um they plays more uh. division one sports in any other college. in the country no one else is even close. everyone people don't realize this you. always think the big scort Sports school.

is like Clemson or something no no no. it's Harvard they have more student. athletes than anyone else and not only. that they give a massive admissions. preference to their recruited athletes. so the easiest way to get into Harvard. is not to be the best student in your. class it's to be the best athlete in. your class but also very specific. athletic Endeavors so the the sports. they they really really really really. care about are and see whether you can. detect some kind of common denominator.

uh rowing uh fencing uh. sailing uh uh rugby tennis it's country. club sports right so I do a whole. chapter on why would they bend over the. bend over backwards to participate in. all of these country club sports and not. only that to give massive basically to. do an affirmative action program for the. athletes in the sports and the answer is.

because they uh you know a sport like. tennis to be a recruited tennis player. you have to play Division One tennis to. play div in tennis your parents has to. be willing to spend 50 to 100 Grand a. year iname it's enormously expensive. enormously expensive so when I say I'm. setting aside four admission slots every. year for tennis players what I'm really. saying is I'm setting aside four. admission slots for the children of. people who have enough money to spend. $100,000 on their kids ground strokes so. it's a way of making sure that enough. rich kids attend your school it's really.

obvious yeah right and like this drives. me crazy. because I am someone who believes very. strongly in the idea of a meritocracy. and if you want to have uh and I think. it's one of the most beautiful things. about this country and the idea that the. the symbol of Mer the the reigning. symbol of meritocracy in this country is. essentially going out of its way to. reward kids who play Rich Kids sport. like s say they give it they give it. admissions preference for kids who are.

good at sailing like it's just it's. ridic it's ridiculous well maybe they're. going to grow up to be fishermen. lobsterman you know I mean they're going. to probably go to Sea and explore the. oceans I mean I think most of those kids. are going to end up right hauling crab. yeah that's right yeah that's why. they're doing it yeah I I think so well. you there's another okay this this this. brings up another point which is that.

because when I read that um I thought. I should have I should have done. some. fencing I worked way too hard in high. school that would have much easier yeah. I should have been a Be A Champion. beekeeper um but the bigger point is. that people can eventually game anything. that's the way I feel about it is that. because the other point is okay let's. let's set. those let's set all the the the uh rich.

kids who are playing those Sports aside. and say okay we really want to be a. meritocracy so we're going to have it be. about the SAT MH people can game that. because parents hire sat tutors there's. billions of dollars spent a year making. sure that that. kids uh are very familiar with that test. I think it still does test people who.

were but what I'm saying is that no. matter what you do I mean we've seen. this on Wall Street a million times you. set up these rules someone will find. yeah a small crack someone will say hey. wait a minute no one ever said anything. about mortgage back Securities bang yeah. everybody's doing it and then the whole. system collapses and we wonder wait a. minute why did that uh why did that uh. guy who works on a garbage truck own. nine properties you know.

what is going on I once you know. speaking of the SAT I once uh challenge. my assistant to the. elsat she was uh I thought really fun I. got a tutor I went through that whole. process and the hilarious thing of. course about the T tutor was the first. thing he said is I had to learn to quote. process without understanding which what. meaning which I thought was hilarious. because it's it's a test designed to. measure your aptitude for being a lawyer. MH and the test for being a lawyer can.

only be you can only do well is if if. you learn how to process without. understanding if my lawyer came to me. and said I processed your case without. understanding it I think I'd be a little. bit alarmed yeah but so that it was like. sounds like a good lawyer though yeah. and I have a lot to say about The Little. Mermaid that's not contract. law no but it does I was power I never. because you know in Canada we don't have. I'm Canadian we don't have um. standardized tests I I knew nothing. about these I would come I I moved to.

America after college and I hear people. talk about the SAT and it sounds like. some kind of strange holy right you know. that and um so by I was so kind of. curious that at a certain point in my. life I decided I had to do and I I went. and I sat in that big room with hundreds. of other people I was the only person. over the age of like 25 and um I uh I. ended up tying my assistant oh okay. which I thought was good I the money was. on her cuz she's 24 and the the general.

consensus around the office is I didn't. stand a chance cuz I've obviously lost. so many brain. cells what was your score I don't. remember it was it was uh not impressive. basically I was headed I was headed for. a medoc coloso which that's fine. someone's got to be well here's the. other thing too I mean I've said this to. everybody I've ever encountered in this. business is that I have had the.

privilege of working with so many. talented amazing funny people who are. great at what they do and often I don't. know where they went to college yeah. because the amount of pressure we put on. that in this. country uh is insane yeah and you talk a. lot about resilience and people who are. uh not from a monoculture but people who. are uh forced to be resilient and.

the great benefits that that has and I. don't know I just I'm always I thought. you were going to tell us your SAT score. I thought that's where you were. intentionally forgot my SAT score I. intentionally if you could I selected. which brain cells I could forget and I. forgot those.