- Chris Langan
- from a very poor family
- very gifted, but teachers and parents never realized
- offered two full scholarships to Reed and University of Chicago
- after losing his scholarship to Reed, went into construction
- has analytical intelligence, not practical intelligence (never learned entitlement)
- today, he lives on a horse farm with his wife, he works on the farm and reads books instead of having a good academic career
- Jack Langan
- Chris Langan’s father
- failed journalist
- a drunk, always disappearing and beating the kids
- left for good after Chris knocked him out once
- taught children to resent authority
- Chris’s mother
- from a poor family
- estranged from her family, her first four husbands died and the third was Jack Langan
- not well-educated and failed to fill out Chris’s scholarship renewal papers
- Robert Oppenheimer
- physicist, headed the development of the nuclear bomb during World War II
- genius child
- went to Harvard then Cambridge University to get his doctorate in physics
- he hated his tutor, Patrick Blackett, so he tried to poison him with chemicals
- he only received probation for attempted murder
- has analytical and practical intelligence
- Leslie Groves
- general in charge of the Manhattan Project
- hired Oppenheimer to lead the atomic-bomb effort
- Annette Lareau
- sociologist who conducted a study of a group of third graders
- picked twelve families (some black, some white) from both wealthy and poor homes and followed them at least twenty times for hours each time
- found that there are two parenting ‘philosophies’ and they are almost perfectly divided along class lines
- the Brindle family
- a poor family who Lareau followed
- played with family and neighbors, not much in organized groups
- learned to listen to adults and do what they’re told, not question authority
- the Williams family
- a wealthy family who Lareau followed
- taught entitlement, children were part of many sports teams and many activities
- learned how to negotiate and get what they want