Item — HN Reader

> But does it matter?

Yes, it does. It matters a lot. "The Word Gap ... has important consequences for children’s later vocabulary, literacy and school performance" [0]

Even if this whole line of research gets debunked, reading to your kids won't hurt!

> eventually converge to something approximating their parents' IQs

I haven't read much about this research, maybe it holds more water than I think. But does it matter? Do you really think disadvantaged youth are such because of genetics?

[0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S08852...

2 comments

I think there are two types of properties: intrinsic and extrinsic. Your intelligence is intrinsic. It’s internal to you and is highly correlated with your genetics. Your success in life is extrinsic. It’s based on factors outside of you, like the circumstances of your family, etc.

So, no, I’m not saying success is purely genetic. But, I also think there is a strong genetic component to one’s intrinsic ability and so not everyone can reach the top even if they work really hard.

If we're trying to help our kids, it would be nice to know which interventions actually affect adult intelligence.

The word gap research isn't a randomized trial. It mostly shows that children from poorer families in the US hear fewer words.

It's difficult to study because interventions often produce positive effects in the short term that disappear by the time the child reaches adulthood.

> it would be nice to know which interventions actually affect adult intelligence

sure, that would be nice. it does seem pretty clear that as a general rule, well-resourced students are more likely to get accepted into, and graduate from, elite schools. Happy to back that claim up with some research if you like.

> The word gap research isn't a randomized trial

No, its a growing body of research including many studies. [0] And it was an example I used to illustrate how well-resourced students achieve more in school, even from a young age.

[0] https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2010.495638

> well-resourced students are more likely to get accepted into, and graduate from, elite schools. Happy to back that claim up with some research if you like.

We agree on this, but it's also a major confounder for observational word gap studies. And though we try, it's very difficult to fully control for confounders.

The holy grail would be interventions that can improve adult intelligence but unfortunately a lot of interventions that look promising in short term studies see their benefits disappear by the time the children reach adulthood. There don't appear to be any long term studies on this yet (I know this is a big ask).