No. 6 President Jean Gonzalez of South Coast College answers the question:  “Aren’t there some people who just can’t do court reporting?” (Please read the questions in order 1-10).

 

Note that I value  the ideas in this section so much that I have purposely repeated certain sections.

 

My observations have been that students who understand the concept of practice and put that concept into practice succeed in court reporting.  I often find that some students continue to frustrate themselves trying to succeed in court reporting because they do not understand the concept of practice, or they do not practice and rely on divine inspiration. 

 

Referring back to my prior comments on Todd Olivas, when Todd discovered that the secret to success in passing the CSR was subjecting himself to a mind-numbing experience, he passed the CSR.  When Yeketerina (Katerina) Netessova, a Russian student who spoke English as her second language, discovered that the key to passing the CSR is repetition, she passed the CSR.  Explaining that concept to someone who is unwilling to be subjected to boredom is a challenge.

 

Again, I am going to defer to what the experts say on this subject as follows.  (Refer to P. 39 of the Outliers)

 

The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that he and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals,” musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did.  Nor could they find any people who worked harder than everyone else, yet just didn’t have what it takes to break the top ranks. 

 

Their research suggests that once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works.  That’s it.  And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else.  They work much, much harder. 

 

The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again and again in studies of expertise.  In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise:  ten thousand hours.

 

The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything,” writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin.  “In writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.  (Comment:  I would add court reporters.)

 

Of course, this doesn’t address why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others do.  But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time.  It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”

 

 

Again, my observations have been that students who understand the concept of practice and put that concept into practice succeed in court reporting.  I often find that some students continue to frustrate themselves trying to succeed in court reporting because they do not understand the concept of practice, or they do not practice and rely on divine inspiration. 

 

Referring back again to my prior comments on Todd Olivas, when Todd discovered that the secret to success in passing the CSR was subjecting himself to a mind-numbing experience, he passed the CSR.  When Yeketerina (Katerina) Netessova, a Russian student who spoke English as her second language, discovered that the key to passing the CSR is repetition, she passed the CSR.  Explaining that concept to someone who is unwilling to be subjected to boredom is a challenge!

 

Again, I am going to defer to what the experts say on this subject as follows.  (Refer again to P. 39 of the Outliers)

 

The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that he and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals,” musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did.  Nor could they find any people who worked harder than everyone else, yet just didn’t have what it takes to break the top ranks.  Their research suggests that once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works.  That’s it.  And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else.  They work much, much harder!!!!!! 

 

 

 

The emerging picture is that the only people who can’t make it are the people who give up.  Donna Cole, a motivational speaker in the field of court reporting puts it succinctly:  “If you wish to succeed, don’t quit.”  It is all about hours. 

 

The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again and again in studies of expertise.  In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise:  ten thousand hours.

 

The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything,” writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin.  “In writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.”  (Comment:  I would add court reporters.)

 

Every day people who have tried court reporting years ago re-enter South Coast College.  Perhaps, the first time around, they were not receptive to the message that to succeed in court reporting, it will take the hours of practice whether it is spent in one, two, three, four, or more years.  Most commonly, I hear the comment, “This time, I am going to do it right.”  And the number of success stories of people who have re-entered and are successful at South Coast College is growing.  Again, it attests to the message that developing the capacity for enduring boredom works.

 

I was touched today by the message that Ted Kennedy, Jr. conveyed when eulogizing his father.  He said that the most powerful lesson his father taught him through example was to never give up.  When he said he couldn’t climb the mountain because of his newly acquired artificial leg, his father guided him up the mountain.  He told him that if it took all day, he could do it. 

 

Court reporting instructors and administrators take this journey up the mountain with willing court reporting students every day.  However, there are some who are not willing to take the journey at that particular time.  Sometimes it takes many years for some who do not take the trip to realize that they can.  They are the people who return to school to become court reporters.  At South Coast College currently and probably at many other court reporting institutions throughout the country, many of these people are now with the help of their instructors and school administrators making the journey upward.

 

Perhaps, a more profound lesson for court reporting students to be learned from the example of Ted Kennedy, Jr.’s story is that court reporting students are not the only ones who have difficult challenges facing them.  Life is about facing difficult challenges of varying sorts. 

 

Our perception when we are going through any difficult challenge is that no one else has experienced anything like what we are experiencing at this time.  The naive view of life is that everything should be easy or that some people have it easier than others.  In reality, it only seems that way. 

 

When I was listening to one of the comments made during the Kennedy eulogizing, someone made a comment that Ted Kennedy was once criticized during a political speech by someone who said, “How would you know. You never worked a day in your life.”  The joke supposedly was that on the following day, Ted Kennedy met a worker who said, “I heard what that guy said about you — that you never worked a day in your life.  Well, you haven’t missed anything.” 

 

The truth is that the people of privilege often work harder than is imagined.  The moral of the story is that court reporting students who are engaging in the pursuit of developing the capacity for boredom are not unique.  Whatever career that you choose to pursue will have its share of challenge and boredom.  Exceling in any field will have its share of boredom and its share of rewards.  Court reporters are no different from people who enter any other fields of endeavor.  There will be challenges.  There will be boredom.  Their will be rewards.  Anyone just looking for the rewards will be disappointed in whatever field of endeavor that they seek. 

 

The passage in the Outliers goes on to say:  “Of course, this doesn’t address why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others do.  But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time.  It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”  In the following blog, I will address this issue.