Kathryn Asbury - G is for Genes: The Impact of Genetics on Education and Achievement

The study of children's development can have a profound influence on how children are brought up, cared for and educated. Many psychologists argue that, even if our knowledge is incomplete, we have a responsibility to attempt to help those concerned with the care, education and study of children by making what we know available to them. The central aim of this series is to encourage developmental psychologists to set out the findings and~the implications of their research for othersteachers, doctors, social workers, students and fellow researcherswhose work involves the care, education and study of young children and their families. The information and the ideas that have grown from recent research form an important resource which should be available to them. This series provides an opportunity for psychologists to present their work in a way that is interesting, intelligible and substantial, and to discuss what its consequences may be for those who care for, and teach children: not to offer simple prescriptive advice to other professionals, but to make important and innovative research accessible to them.

This edition first published 2014

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Asbury, Kathryn.

G is for genes : the impact of genetics on education and achievement / Kathryn Asbury and Robert Plomin.

pages cm.(Understanding children's worlds ; 13)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-48278-0 (hardback)ISBN 978-1-118-48281-0 (paperback) 1. Learning abilityGenetic aspects. 2. Academic achievement. 3. Behavior genetics. I. Plomin, Robert, 1948 II. Title.

LB1134.A83 2013

370.1523dc23

2013017491

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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For the TEDS families, with thanks

The Universe is not going to see someone like you again in the entire history of creation.

Vartan Gregorian

Acknowledgements

This book began as an idea several years ago, and its writing has been informed and inspired by discussions with generous colleagues at London's Institute of Psychiatry ever since, for which we thank them. Our field, behavioral genetics, is developing at considerable speed and we look forward to continuing and extending those discussions in tandem with new developments in both genetics and education.

The writing of G is for Genes was made possible by funding from the British Academy in the form of a Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to KA, and our research into the school environment is funded by the US National Institutes of Health. We thank both bodies for believing in the importance of this endeavor.

We thank Peter Tallack of The Science Factory, and Professor Judy Dunn for their invaluable support and encouragement as we prepared to submit our draft manuscript for publication. Both contributed ideas which have made G is for Genes a better book, and both were a pleasure to work with. Thanks also to Nick Asbury for coming up with our title.

A particularly special thank you is owed to Jonah Asbury who helped in ways too numerous to mention but, in particular, we thank him for his generously given editorial advice which was always on the money. Finally, we thank the thousands of families who make up the Twins' Early Development Study (TEDS). We have dedicated our book to these families because, although we have become accustomed to their generosity, it really is astonishing that they find time in their busy lives to contribute to science and society on such a regular basis. They make our research possible and we are eternally grateful.

Part One