Chapter 3 Caroline Sacks

The Impressionists decided to break with tradition and create their own exhibit instead of trying to display at the Salon. In doing so they made their mark on their world, and are a famous movement known even a century later.

Caroline Sacks and many other promising high school students go to top universities and do poorly, because they despair after finding they cannot do well in classes. This is called being a little fish in a big pond, when you go from being top to just in the middle, or even below average, in the class. Malcolm posits that it is better to be a big fish in a little pond and that Caroline should have gone to the local university instead of the Ivy League one, and she would still be on track to become a scientist.