Posted on 03/07/2023 5:04:19 PM PST by grundle
Whether rich or poor, residents of the United States or China, illiterate or college graduates, parents who have books in the home increase the level of education their children will attain, according to a 20-year study led by Mariah Evans, University of Nevada, Reno associate professor of sociology and resource economics.
For years, educators have thought the strongest predictor of attaining high levels of education was having parents who were highly educated. But, strikingly, this massive study showed that the difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has as great an effect on the level of education a child will attain as having parents who are barely literate (3 years of education) compared to having parents who have a university education (15 or 16 years of education). Both factors, having a 500-book library or having university-educated parents, propel a child 3.2 years further in education, on average.
Being a sociologist, Evans was particularly interested to find that children of lesser-educated parents benefit the most from having books in the home. She has been looking for ways to help Nevada’s rural communities, in terms of economic development and education.
“What kinds of investments should we be making to help these kids get ahead?” she asked. “The results of this study indicate that getting some books into their homes is an inexpensive way that we can help these children succeed.”
Evans said, “Even a little bit goes a long way,” in terms of the number of books in a home. Having as few as 20 books in the home still has a significant impact on propelling a child to a higher level of education, and the more books you add, the greater the benefit.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Don’t forget to turn the record player on too.
Wow, a sociologist that’s correct for a change. I certainly agree. I grew up with books, magazines and newspapers and so did my children. I’ve also have seen evidence based on the No Cild Left Behind testing and demographics on what made the best performing schools. The best performing schools in every state had one key demographic: the highest percentage of parents with a college degree. I’d boil that down to on thing, parents that cared about academics. It also helps to have parent to re-teach subjects that screw up teachers didn’t teach well.
My parents had plenty of books in their home, but for some reason, I have way more.
My grandmother would agree. She gave me lots of books as presents when I was a kid. She was a school teacher. Shockingly none of the books were about my sexual orientation either.
They brought a passion to you that you’ve had the luxury to indulge. They must have been so proud to watch you read.
“”Being a sociologist, Evans was particularly interested to find that children of lesser-educated parents benefit the most from having books in the home.””
I placed a lot of Encyclopedia sets with children’s books into low-income homes, a whole lot of them, in multiple states.
I was well aware of the fact that if there are books in the house, many children will discover them and change their lives.
We always had books and my dad taught me to read before I was six years old. I could actually read novels by then. That was back when you learned to read by “sounding out” syllables. Made it really easy.
Just adding books to a home won’t solve the problem. The family needs to have the attitude that it’s worthwhile to read books and to learn something and to act “xxxxx” (name of the race that’s blamed for all the evil in the world)
Helps if the following are not in the home: drugs, excess booze, TikTok.
Just out of curiosity, I wonder if just having the books is enough, whether the kid reads them or not. Just seeing a library of 500 books every day is formative in itself. It telegraphs to the youngster that there is a lot of wisdom and information to be attained in the world. They may later choose to pay more attention just from that tiny kernel of information gleaned from living in the same home with a decent library.
I learned to read via comic books. My parents never complained about me buying them. I had a large wicker basket full of them. Our house had books and I used the public library too.
No kidding.
The best thing any parent can do with their child is sit them on their lap every day or evening and read to them. There is almost no better way to bond with them than giving them that kind of one on one attention.
Even when I had three little ones, I would sit them, one on each side and one in my lap and I made sure to switch who got the lap every day so I could not be accused of playing favorites.
Of course, they do reach an age where they don’t fit on you lap, but that still leaves a lot of years in their early childhood for that expeience.
James Joyce, Ulysses, is the foundation for any and every literate human being.
One of the earliest memories I have is my Mamma reading Tom & Jerry comics to me when I was about 4 years old or so. That would be about 1954 or thereabouts.
You can’t work this backwards though.
I mean if you bought a 500 book library and installed it in a no book neighbor household that wouldn’t do it.
The point is that books are valued and reading is a habit practiced regularly in front of and with the kids. The parents make the time and effort and spend the money to have lots of books for the whole family. And they read, a lot, individually and together.
It’s not an artificial presence of books.
“One of the earliest memories I have is my Mamma reading Tom & Jerry comics to me when I was about 4 years old or so. That would be about 1954 or thereabouts.”
I was reading Superman and Batman comics. Comic books were better back then. Same for the uncomplicated kiddie cartoons on black and white TV, like Mighty Mouse. The computer generated cartoons of today are visually grotesque, warped and ruin kiddies minds. My opinion.
I was six years old when I started reading. My mom gave me books like Robinson Crusoe, Arabian Nights, Aesop’s Fairy tales, Hans Christian Anderson, Grimms Fairy tales, Swiss Family Robinson, the Jungle book. These were published by Companion Library Book.
I probably sounded out the words too.
These were the real deal stories, not a watered down disney collection.
My mom never had to read to me. She just handed me my Companion Library book set and I was hooked (booked lol) for life.
I learned to read on the floor of our living room crouched between my dad’s legs while he read the Sunday comics. I was about 3 years old when we started that. A VERY fond memory!
Still, to this day, I love to read — BOOKS! Like the feel and smell of a book!
But, my environment was VERY positive - my mom was a Librarian/School teacher, and my dad was an Attorney.
I taught my kids to read as soon as I could. They read, but neither of them are as “bookish” as I am, dagnabbit!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.