According to this study from 2001, if you want to do well in school, school itself is not going to help you that much. What will help you? Overwhelmingly, reading. Reading is the most strongly correlated with your ability to engage in letter-word comprehension, passage comprehension, applied problems, and calculation. The same is true of visiting, market work, and church attendance, though to a much lesser degree. Market work, though, is strongest of the three. And eating together as a family is strongly correlated with doing better in all four areas as well.
Having a hobby and doing art are positively correlated with strong letter-word comprehension and passage comprehension. Playing sports is positively correlated with applied problem solving. Conversation is correlated with passage comprehension and, oddly, calculation. There is a slight negative correlation between conversation and letter-word comprehension, but that might simply be because talkers won't shut up long enough to read anything.
I think it should bother everyone that attending church makes you better able to do all of these things than does attending school.
Attending school and studying seem to have only slightly positive, but almost negligible effects.
And don't worry too much about T.V. But do worry that your kids aren't getting enough sleep.
What does this all say?
This suggests to me that if one had a school setting in which reading for comprehension (rather than words per minute, which is a stupid criterium) was encouraged, in which visiting and conversation were encouraged, students were encouraged to do art and hobbies, and in which students were encouraged to work and play sports, you would have an ideal learning environment.
Wait? Isn't that the Montessori method I just described?
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