Summary

Chapter 9 is called Marita's Bargain. In this chapter, Gladwell focuses on a public middle school in the South Bronx in New York City called KIPP Academy. The children who attend the school come from one of the worst neighborhoods in the city, but the students who are chosen by lottery to attend consistently outperform others in their academic achievements. The reason behind the success of the KIPP Academy, Gladwell claims, is that they have stepped outside the cultural legacy on which most public school systems are based.

Gladwell cites some opinions of early American educational theorists who claim that too much education is not good for average people. Long hours at school result in "over-stimulating the mind" which is bad for overall health. This thinking becomes ingrained in the design of public school systems.

Gladwell looks at the practice of summer...