Yes. Raw ability enough. I was a poor kid in rural Wisconsin. Few books in apartment (all fiction); single mom read Cosmo. Public library changed my life. Read 1000s of books from 3rd through 9th grade and ended up a National Merit Scholar, & attending two elite universities.
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... not important to outcome variation *in the population studied*, surely? E.g if population incl kids with library down the road *and* kids from societies where access to books involves a 3 mile daily walk, effect of access to books (E) on reading ability would be higher, no?
Implied in my "that same E variation" I think. In any case, I think people vastly overestimate importance of trying to increase opportunity. The internet has made everything available for years, yet we see little change bc opportunity isn't the limiting factor, people are.
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Yes I totally agree, though I don't necessarily think intervention is de facto hopeless, just that it a) is likely to be much harder and costlier than people think & b) probably requires a much better knowledge of how child's brain develops than we have now.
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I don't think we need to know much about child development. Just do large RCTs, get lucky. Try some stuff we didn't try already (e.g., give all kids Ritalin at school level). Ritalin has some interesting longitudinal evidence for crime.http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1203241 …
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I don't think interventions or environmental change is hopeless, but I have very little faith in social scientists due to their sheer incompetence and strong political bias.
End of conversation
New conversation -
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If I'd had internet in 5th grade, I'd have watched college-level courses rather than doing non-directed reading in the library (much of it on sci fi & sports biographies). But internet may have a net negative effect on kids, given time they spend on social media/entertainment.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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