Over on my Dadprovement blog, I write about a new study that looks at how a mother’s education impacts a child’s education. Definitely offers some real food for thought. The full post follows:
Yes, this blog is primarily about issues related to fatherhood. But it is also about being a better parent and raising a better family. So it was quite interesting to see an article in today’s Washington Post of a new research study that finds that a mother’s education may be the biggest influence on a child’s education.
WaPo reporter Michael Alison Chandler really distilled the findings by offering that “one in eight children in the U.S. … are born to a mother with no high school diploma, compared to one in three whose mothers have a college diploma.”
So how do those groups compare? Chandler reports:
“● 84 percent live in low-income families, compared to 13 percent
● 48 percent have a mother who is not securely employed, compared to 11 percent
● 16 percent read proficiently in the eighth grade, compared to 49 percent
● 40 percent do not graduate on time, compared to 2 percent
● 27 percent are obese, compared to 13 percent”
Some fascinating food for thought, particularly for dads, and parents in general, who think the “do as I say, not as I do” approach to child rearing can get the job done in the long term.