Books For Brains
Gregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D.
It has been unquestioned for decades that the single most important variable in a number of measures of success is verbal ability. The better people are in their verbal skills, the more likely they are to pursue education, have satisfying jobs, make more money, and resolve difficult issues that they face through life. I’ve often said in my columns in the past that teaching your child to love reading is one of the most important things you can do as a parent to prepare them for life.
A recent study from the University of Nevada adds new emphasis to what we have always known. In brief, the study found that the more books available to children during childhood, the more likely they are to finish high school. That was three years more than the control group exposed to fewer books. This was no simple study, either. This study examined data on 73,000 subjects over a twenty year period in 27 different countries.
According to the study, the presence of 500 or more books in the child’s life was twice as important as the education of the father, which in the past has been believed to be one of the most important correlates with future academic success in children. This is an amazing finding especially in a culture that is becoming increasingly more interested in games, telephones, the Internet, and social media like Facebook.
If you happen to have been a reader of my column ten years ago or more, you may recall reading about my concerns with video games and television. My primary concern was not the media themselves, but how much time children spent with those media. With so many portable devices now, the concerns I had more than a decade ago are compounded. A child could literally spend every waking hour on the Internet or playing computer games, regardless of where he or she is on the planet.
Detractors might ask what the big deal is and it might seem logical that if children are reading the Internet, Facebook pages, and so forth, that “reading is reading.” However, this study demonstrates that is not the case. Reading a book is distinctly different from reading in other forms. The brain responds to it differently and its outcomes are different.
Evaluating the results of this study, then, must include asking why reading is different. What does it do that we don’t get from other forms of interaction? Obviously, just living in a house with books is not the point. The answer is two-fold.
First, reading causes a fundamental change in the brain and in how people process information. It isn’t just a process of gathering information, but it changes how we see the world. This leads to the second issue. There is a difference between entertainment and learning. Movies, social interaction, some types of music, and other forms of entertainment do not require much activity on the part of the learner. It is passive so little is retained and no neurological changes are required.
Reading is different. Think of it as the difference between two types of television programs – a situation comedy and an educational program. The sit com is fun to watch, but it requires little mental energy from the observer. It is passive so one can do other things while the program is on and still enjoy the program. An educational program is boring if you don’t invest mental energy and it is very hard to enjoy it if you are consistently interrupted or if you aren’t paying attention. This happens because it is active viewing.
This may be the primary difference between reading and
other media. I am open to the possibility that future researchers
might find results similar to the Nevada study by examining other
forms of active interaction, especially educational programs,
but maybe even some forms of video games as well. Until then,
however, the lesson appears to be that we need to invest in books
with our children.