The race is on to use neuroscience and technology...
...to plug the learning gap between poor and rich children
Recent research shows children’s life chances may depend less...
...on showering them with knowledge and words...
Kite, key, koala
...and more on opportunities to interact with adults
That specific type of communication is what is going to...
...really benefit the child long-term
But is this enough?
Could a controversial focus on genetics...
...be what’s needed to break the class ceiling?
We are at a tipping point in terms of...
...how genetics is going to shape our lives
Let’s put your shoes on OK?
It might look like Shadarra and her son Kevin...
...are getting ready for a trip to the playground
But this is no ordinary day
Oh my goodness let’s play, what do you want to play first?
Every word they say is being recorded...
...on a tiny device known as a “talk pedometer”
But instead of tracking steps, it counts words
The microphone is in the front and you don’t want to obstruct it
You don’t want anything to block the sound
The device picks up how many adult words he’s hearing...
...how much electronic noise is in the background...
...and how many turns he’s taking in talking to me...
...when I communicate with him
The pedometers continuously collect data….
...and are part of a scheme to transform how children learn language...
It makes me more mindful
So now I’m always considering when I’m getting him ready
I’m like, am I talking to him enough?
So let’s go play with our toys
One influential study found that in the first three years of a child’s life...
...those from wealthy families will have heard around 30m more...
...words than those from poorer backgrounds
And this word gap can set them back for years to come
Kids in poverty hear fewer adult words...
...and it’s not because their parents are bad parents
It’s because mom or dad is working two jobs
While the pedometers can be used by all families...
...including middle class ones like Shadarra’s...
...the scheme helps poor kids to bridge this word gap
Every week Shadarra gets a breakdown of exactly how much...
...she’s spoken to her son while he was wearing the device
We’ve had several teachers in our district go through the programme...
...and when I’ve talked to them after they get their first or second report...
...almost all of their comments are, I thought I was talking with my kid...
...way more than this report actually shows
One study found this use of technology and data analysis...
...led to a 32% increase in the number of words a child hears per hour
Everybody, listen to me, what?
But it’s not just about increasing the number of words children hear
The scheme’s organisers are looking out...
...for the number of so-called conversational turns
I tried to tell you last night papa
The area that we really encourage and try to promote...
...the most growth in is that back-and-forth conversation...
...between an adult and a child
There’s tonnes of research that shows that...
...that specific type of communication
...is what is going to really benefit the child long-term
Neuroscience has shown the benefits of conversational turns
As they appear to get round...
...some of the disadvantages of growing up poor
It is well established that if a child grows up in poverty...
...this affects their growing brain
Low socioeconomic status or other types of disadvantage...
...or adversity affect the developing brain
Parts of the brain that respond to...
...threatening environments, tend to accelerate...
...so that children can be more resilient
Then there are other parts of the brain, showing slower growth...
...when exposed to adversity
Here we go in one, two, three
But when children are engaged...
...in high numbers of conversational turns...
...these differences in brain development...
...caused by their background don’t seem to matter
And regions of the brain associated with language development expand
Conversational turns is something directly...
...in the child’s everyday environment that seems to have an effect over...
...and above socioeconomic status
Yet despite these insights from neuroscience and new tech...
...the gap in achievement between rich and poor kids...
...hasn’t changed for decades
By the time they are ten, in fourth grade...
...lower-income students will have a reading score...
...around 28 points below their richer classmates’
And this gap hasn’t really changed in the past 20 years
We’re surprisingly ineffective at that, at closing the differences...
...that we see between low-income and high-income children
In some cases, those gaps have actually gotten worse...
...in the US in the last 25 years
So what else could help level the playing field?
Professor Kathryn Paige Harden is a psychologist and geneticist...
...who argues a new approach is needed
She believes understanding children’s genetics could be key
From a genetic perspective, we can see that...
...people who happen to inherit certain genetic variants...
...are more likely to graduate from college
I think we’re really used to thinking about the role...
...that a child’s family background plays in...
...equality and inequality over the course of their life
And what we’re seeing with the research now...
...is that genetics plays just a bigger role in shaping these types...
...of inequalities in life outcomes
Professor Harden argues genetics could be used...
...to identify the children least likely to do well at school
And that this offers the potential for better...
...and more effective interventions to help them
You can have children spit into a tube...
...and for less than 75 American dollars...
...you can get a read out of their DNA...
...which can be used to see, OK we know for some reason...
...these kids with these genetic variants are less likely...
...in 30 years to have graduated from college, or have gotten a PhD
Is this so exciting?
She says that some existing interventions, which don’t take account...
...of genetics, could be improved
Is that intervention working disproportionately for people...
...who are most likely to succeed in school or least likely?
Or is it working about the same for everyone?
So far those questions are really unknown...
...because interventioners haven’t really incorporated...
...genetic tools into their research designs
There’s nothing the state of North Carolina can do...
...to justify what they did to me
The idea of using genetic information...
...to shape social policy provokes strong reactions
It has a very dark and uncomfortable past
In the 20th century genetic traits...
...were used to promote the idea of racial superiority...
...sometimes in disturbing propaganda
I think many people worry because they say...
...that’s a way of dismissing a large chunk of the population
They talk about genetic determinism being right-wing
But Professor Harden believes it doesn’t have to be like this
We see these real fears that genetic information...
...will be used to naturalise hierarchy
At the same time, we see an increasing embrace...
...of thinking about our biology, in relation to sexual orientation...
...in relation to weight, how does my genotype affect...
...my difficulty in keeping off weight?
So what I’d like to see is for that trend to continue...
...but around things related to academic achievement...
...or educational attainment
Using genetic information like this is still a long way off
Its advocates will have to show that it can be done...
...in a safe and ethical way
And that it will improve social mobility...
...rather than increasing existing inequalities
Parents and children see that the DNA revolution is here
They want to know how it’s affecting them
I expect it to be a really scientifically interesting...
...and productive area of research moving forward
Hi, I’m Adrian Wooldridge, political editor here at The Economist
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