Nature Vs Nurture: Sometimes It Doesn't Even Matter

As Vicki and I were busy not selling any Math books last night at the school bazaar, we had lots of opportunities to people-watch. One of the things we noticed was how often it looked as if parents who seemed to have limited education themselves were leading around children who were almost certainly headed in the same direction. These were assumptions on our part, and could undoubtedly be completely out to lunch. But when you overhear adults saying that they never liked any of the subjects in school except Phys Ed, have no interest in reading books, and couldn't wait to get out of school, then you inevitably draw some conclusions.

Then you see the next generation at their heels and wonder, "How will they ever break that cycle?" If Nature plays a significant role, then they'll be inheriting their parents' anti-school, Math-phobic chromosomes and be doomed before they ever set foot in a public school. On the other hand, if the environment they grow up in makes the biggest difference, then what is it about their home life, with their values being established by their dropout parents, that could possibly elevate them to a better future?

As just one example of what I mean: the vendor next to us was selling children's books and so we watched a mother of a 5- or 6-year-old need serious convincing before spending $10 to buy an exciting, colourful picture book that her child dearly wanted. Her first objection: "He can't read by himself." When the vendor pointed out that this book might in fact help him learn how to read and that the mother could possibly read it to him the first few times, this suggestion was apparently perceived as a major hardship. The mother hummed and hawed over spending $10 "on a book" but eventually relented. So now consider just what the young boy has to overcome if he's ever going to become someone capable of doing "knowledge work" (as I talk about in Chapter 3 of my book): he has to outwit his own genes and flourish in a home where reading is considered a nuisance at best.

Needless to say, all of this was rather depressing to me.