Scientists discover that genetics affects education outcomes

A new study has discovered more than 1,000 genetic variations that could predict educational outcomes, The Atlantic reported Monday, to nearly the same degree as household income or parental education.

A years-long study, published by the journal Nature Genetics, analyzed the genes of about 1.1 million individuals, and found 1,271 education-associated genetic variants. While the study isn't as simple as locating "education genes" that can reliably predict how people will perform in the education system, the variants can, as a whole, explain 11 percent of the population's variation in years of schooling.

"We can explain education as well with saliva samples as with demographics," said Daniel Benjamin, one of the researchers. Kathryn Asbury, an education and genetics researcher, said that "any factor that can explain 11 percent of the variance in how a child performs in school is very significant."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Part of the reason the finding is so significant is because it could help control for various disadvantages when children enter the school system. "We already do that for environmental disadvantages, such as through additional funding or free school meals," said Asbury, though there is concern that such mitigation could stigmatize certain genetic variants.

Rather than look at individuals' genes to foresee an educational future, Benjamin thinks the study could be used to better understand what factors place students at a disadvantage on a systemic level, controlling for genetics to determine what tweaks in the classroom might help students achieve more years in school. Read more at The Atlantic.