Freakonomics: It’s who parents ARE and not what parents DO

I just finished reading the book Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. One of the topics is parenting and how much of it really matters.

One of the questions it asks is what factors affects the childs test scores. Does reading to the child everyday increases test scores? Does spanking, watching television or going to the museum affect test scores? Test scores here means scores from standardized tests given to kids in the US.

Gab and Berenstain Bears

The authors are not child psychologists. Steven Levitt is an economist. He knows how to read and analyze data. He is good in finding correlations or how one factor can affect the other. Does A causes B? Does an increase in A also increase in B? Does a decrease in A also create a decrease in B? Or maybe an increase in A will decrease B?

In the chapter “What makes a Perfect Parent?” his data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) shows eight factors that strongly correlates with test scores and another eight factors that does not affect test scores at all.

Below are the eight factors that strongly correlates with test scores. Each factor will strongly influence either an increase or a decrease in test scores.

  • The child has highly educated parents.
  • The child’s parents have high socioeconomic status.
  • The child’s mother was thirty or older at the time of her first child birth.
  • The child has low birthweight.
  • The child’s parents speak English in the home.
  • The child is adopted.
  • The child’s parents are involved in the PTA.
  • The child has many books in his home.

Below are the eight factors that does not affect test scores.

  • The child’s family is intact.
  • The child’s parents recently moved into a better neighborhood.
  • The child’s mother didn’t work between birth and kindergarten.
  • The child attended Head Start.
  • The child’s parents regularly take him to museums.
  • The child is regularly spanked.
  • The child frequently watches television.
  • The child’s parents read to him nearly every day.

Are these findings expected or surprising?

The conclusions are derived from correlation using mathematical computations. The book discusses more about the method used to come up with the results. Correlations only shows how one factor affects the other. It does not explain why. It doesn’t show cause and effect.

At the same time, the factors only shows relationships to test scores. A child’s future is more than just test scores.

To me, most of the results are surprising.

For example, while I like to believe that having many books will improve Gab’s test scores. And I have bought a lot already to fill a shelf and we read a lot of them together. But the authors further states that simply the presence of books is enough to increase the test scores. Whether the parents actually read the books to the child regularly is immaterial. It doesn’t explain why this is so. It is just what the numbers are showing.

Television, museums and spanking doesn’t increase test scores too. That’s comforting to hear. It will save me some money from buying tickets and from cable subscriptions. 😀

Based on these factors, the author finds something common in each set. The things that affects test scores are things that parents ARE, while the list that doesn’t affect test scores are things that parents DO. In other words, it is who parents ARE and not what parents DO.

It sounds like sad news. As a parent, I love to find things to DO that will help my child grow smarter, stronger and successful someday.

Gab and books

So will this Freakonomics data make me freak out and stop doing the things I do? Should I stop reading and simply just buy books to decorate the house? Should I stop bringing Gab to educational places like museums and parks and just let him wander around with little guidance?

The findings are not final recommendations. But they do help in giving me caution on following parenting advice by the so called experts. The problem with parenting advice is that they change from one expert to another. Numbers on the other hand, like this correlation study, seldom lie.

Parenting is more than just the test scores. I am not raising Gab only to help him get good grades. There are other things that matter in life. And I will just keep on doing things which I hope and think will matter to him someday.

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