According to a renowned geneticist, sending your kids to private school will only be a total waste of time because it will not define their academic success. In fact, he states that the academic achievements of a child depend solely on his genetic make-up. This means that any kid would do good in a local comprehensive public school and in a private school because what he knows and what he learned is dependent on his genes.
Robert Plomin, a professor at King's College London on Behavioral genetics, along with his team spent decades looking into the reason behind the academic success and failure of students. They wanted to find out whether the success can be attributed to nature or nurture.
The study concluded with the results that show that 50% of the academic success of the student was based on their genes. Yet they also admitted that they still have to account for where the one half of it comes from. And yet despite that, the studies show that half of the success rate of students academically is not due to upbringing or schooling.
The studies show that adopted twins who may grow in different familial environments may do good in academics even if they grew up in vastly different environments, parents and get education from different schools. Their success can be attributed to their genes.
Although some exclusive private schools may claim that their students produce higher grades, this difference may be accounted for the selection process and not the school in itself. The same students will probably get the same grades if they were sent to a public school. Their genes are what makes them succeed, Prof Plomin argues.
During his talk at the Hay Festival, he said, "Do the difference in the quality of schools affect the learning outcomes like the scores that the get to departmental exams that will get them to universities?"
"There might be a correlation there, but it doesn't account for everything. If private schools only select the best kids, they can only expect them to go on and do well. But to the question of whether the school has added to that value, the answer is No," Plomin said.
He also added that "If you are sending your kids to private schools because you think it will help them succeed academically, then do not."
Plomin also advised parents that they shouldn't expect their kids to get better grades at more expensive schools. They can only hope that their kids are able to mix up with what they consider as the "better kind" of people.
