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 ...
Charlotte’s Web
Aesop’s Fables
Little Women
Mr Popper’s Penguins
Heidi
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Ralph S Mouse
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Hobbit
Nancy Drew
Hardy Boys
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
Give a Mouse a Cookie (complete series of books there)
Rush Revere books
All of a Kind Family
A Wrinkle in Time
My daughter loved Sweet Valley Twins. I did not, but I sure bought every single one of them. Son loved coffee table books about weapons, history, airplanes, etc. Only series he would read was R L Stine’s Goosebumps. I am on restriction right now as my grandchildren have run out of room for books, but I’ve got a stockpile for each of them sitting at my house.
My kids are just starting their own families and I thought your original post was a good beginning for presents my future grandkids. Thanks to all who replied!
Let me guess. The smug NPR listeners who LOVE abortion will brag about how many Noam Chomsky books they have while saying books are racist because “people of color” don’t have easy access to books.
True. But logic works. A single negro baby momma that can barely speak English who lives in the ghetto with three children isn’t going to have well educated children. Compare that to a college educated mother and father who actually cares about education and you have an entirely different situation. Groomer teachers certainly don’t help. Most are low IQ’d, are barely educated and literate. Parents make all the difference.
Research has actually seemed to show that that correlation is minor compared to other factors.
Stuff it ahole. I wasn’t writing about research. Learn to eff’n read and shut your pie hole.
The types of books they shelve tells me a lot about that person, their education level, their interests, even their politics to some extent.
I think having books around the house does foster lifetime reading habits in children and greatly improves their overall level of education.
It's also important to let children gravitate to what they enjoy reading rather than force certain reading on them. Let them read whatever they want. The more they read, the more they will seek out.
“we had an encyclopedia set and got several magazines every month.
I read them.”
Me too. We could not afford the high grade World Book but, given my parents saw how I took care of books, they got the least quality ones. I would sometimes grab a letter, sit down, and read it.
So very Christian of you—as I see you wear your Christianity on your FR home page.
I remember thumbing through an entire set of encyclopedias from A-Z, fascinated with the pictures of bugs, animals, machines, etc. Eventually I began to understand the words that went with the pictures.
By fourth grade, I was reading at a high school level. By that time, I was reading the dime store novels my parents kept around. That's how I learned about sex by the way, through the steamy novels my mother used to read. My father was big on crime stories, westerns and action series (like "The Executioner"). I read those as well.
Our home was filled with books. My children grew up surrounded by books in every subject, and they loved reading. They truly appreciated receiving books as gifts, too.
Exactly, And for parents, whose children are struggling to learn, one uncomfortable question would be, "Did I do something wrong?" For adults, who have not reached their full potential, the uncomfortable question is, "Should I have studied more?" A small percentage of people have real learning disabilities. Otherwise, most of us are capable of learning much more. But, people would rather believe that intelligence is an inherent trait that cannot be changed. That way, no one is to blame.
Wow, that mirrors our family in so many ways. I am a linguist and historian with a huge library of language centered books, my wife was a nurse with another big library. We have five children.
The children have turned into a professional writer, 1 x business major running scheduling, computer IT guy and another is doing her degree in physics. The youngest boy threw it all out the window and drives trucks.
After reading all of the people on this thread talking about their childhood book reading I guess I need to throw my two cents in.
Every single thing Asimov wrote.
Every single thing Heinlein wrote.
Dune (the entire thing)
All the Ace double science fiction books.
And all of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Anything the school library didn’t nail down before I got there in the morning.
I wouldn’t knock the trucker. In our cast, During the lockdown stupidity he usd the most important job in our family. He drove for a lumberyard and kept hundreds of men employed
It has been four years of hard work and a lot of tears from all of us but she is now rated as normal socially and slightly advanced scholastically.
We are not super teacher or anything, we just wanted her to be the most she could be.
What a wonderful story. Kudos to you and your daughter for all the hard work.
Truck-driving is a good job to have, and from what I hear, it pays well, too.
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