Edward Conard

Top Ten New York Times Bestselling Author

  • “…challenges misconceptions that distort our economic debates.” - Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute
Upside of Inequality Unintended Consequences Oxford
BUY THE BOOKS
  • Macro Roundup
  • Highlights
  • Blog
  • OpEds
  • Reviews
  • About
    • About the Author
    • About the Books
    • Read Excerpts
    • Read the Reviews
    • Debates
    • Media and TV
  • Topics
    • All Media Appearances
    • Productivity
    • Monetary Policy
    • Banking
    • Politics
    • Upside endnotes
    • Stuff Ed’s Assistant Thought He Might Like
  • Contact
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • youtube
  • linkedin
  • Advanced SearchChoose Categories To Search Within
    • Close Advanced Search
Edward Conard

Advanced Search

“The Life Project” Shows Govt’s Limited Ability To Change Impact of Social Status on Success

The Wall Street Journal review of the book, The Life Project, caught my eye today. The book summarizes the 6,000 research papers and 40 books chronicling the 70,000 Brits born in 5 cohorts (1946, 1958, 1970, 1991, and 2001) tracked over the course of their lives by the British government.

The-Life-ProjectThe reviewer, Kay Hymowitz, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, writes:

“From the first cohort, scientists were struck by the effects of social class on life chances. … Inequality remains a major theme—and disappointment—in the cohort literature.

The 1944 Education Act…made education compulsory and free; the British government also introduced the “11-plus” test to locate promising kids at the end of elementary school. Policy makers…eventually increased funds for early childhood education.

If their efforts have created a more equal society, the cohort studies have yet to reveal it. … Performance gaps continue to emerge very early in life and even widen during the school years…  In the 2001 cohort study, very young poor kids had smaller vocabularies… They were more hyperactive and had more emotional and learning problems. … Over 30% of them faced at least one…childhood risk… like domestic violence and parental alcoholism or depression.

[However,] the…studies found that parents with high aspirations for their children [who provided] “a good ‘learning environment’ at home”—reading to a child, singing songs, teaching the alphabet and numbers—was more significant than “parents’ job, education, or income.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

© Copyright 2023 Coherent Research Institute · All Rights Reserved

 

Loading Comments...