I beg to differ. My father was killed in a car accident weeks before I was born, so my mom was a single mother—never remarried, never shacked up, none of that nonsense.
I have an IQ in the 160+ range. I was consistently the highest of the high honors students. We’re talking a 99% average for an entire semester, that’s how good my grades were. And I didn’t go to public schools; I worked my way through a Catholic high school with much tougher grading standards than the public schools had.
Meanwhile, there were plenty of kids from stable families, who struggled to make C’s.
Why? Because my mother focused like a laser on education, teaching me to read, write, and do primary-school math before I even set foot in a classroom. She even had me potty-trained before I was a year old!
Meanwhile, the kids in my school who were from two-parent families...well, let’s just say that the parents were more focused on each other, than they were on tutoring Junior. Their attitude was, it’s the teachers’ job to teach my kids.
And there are plenty of single parents, whose kids are fantastic students. One shining example that comes to mind is Daisy Luther, who has a blog called The Organic Prepper. It’s a great read, not just about prepping, but about homeschooling.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a single mom, single dad, or both parents are in the home—the kids aren’t going to be excellent students unless the parents make a strong effort to educate their children. That’s why homeschooled kids do so much better than kids who go to school.
And this screwy “study” completely fails to address all the wonderful step-parents who have actually made a positive difference in their step-children’s lives.
Then you should know that the value of a generalization is whether it is GENERALLY true. The existence of exceptions such as yours does nothing to invalidate this study.
>And this screwy “study” completely fails to address all the wonderful step-parents who have actually made a positive difference in their step-children’s lives.
That’s because good step parents are rare. For every success story there’s many more stories of failure.
FBI statistics verify the accuracy of this study. Those incarcerated for violent crimes including sexual crimes overwhelmingly OOW.
Your case is not OOW and other studies indicate that having a deceased parent who was married to the mother does not have the same effect on children.
Your mother sounds remarkable and far from the norm. Lord knows it is hard enough for two parents to raise a child properly much less having only one. Adding to the problem is the mothers are generally not bright or educated or working.
Exceptions don’t make the rule. What these studies show is that a larger percentage of children raised in single parent homes have bad grades, get in trouble in school, etc. It is not saying all children from two parent homes avoid these problems but that a smaller percentage have them.
I could have been a poster child for this. My parents were divorced when I was young. My mom was disabled with mental health issues and my dad was abusive. Luckily, I joined the military and got straightened out and have provided my children with the two parent home I always wanted. Actually, I give most of the credit to my wonderful wife.
Also I think IQ has something to do with it too. Im not nearly as high as you, 124, but I suspect that a large majority of kids that prosper in a single parent situation probably have a higher than average IQ and don’t destroy it
with drugs or alcohol.