I finally finished "Outliers" and it does speak of the longer hours and days of school. This naturally leads to being able to concentrate for longer periods of time and learning quite a bit more earlier on in their education.
Also, the longer days allow students to work problems that take them longer. We are more interested in finishing a problem fast here. That is why word problems are being introduced more often and much earlier here. I often hear "I don't get it" if the student can't get it immediately. I work very hard with my students to "sit with it" and to take their time figuring it out.
In my basic sociology course many years ago in college, my professor said that almost anything can be reduced to immediate versus delayed gratification. I often see how right he was about this. I believe this is one reason that early math is way more than addition. The belief that if one can add, he or she is successful in math for that grade level sets a student up for failure later when applied problems arise.
