Kids with a desk and a quiet place to study do better in school, data shows

theconversation.com

34 points·pseudolus··6 comments

For me, even the size of the desk is directly correlated with success. The dorms in college were frustrating because there was barely enough room on the surface to lay down a large textbook and notebook next to it. When I look at desks for sale at IKEA and online, they still seem too small... do other people feel the same way? All of the tables I've used as desks since then have been marketed as "dining room tables to seat 6-8".

I think I would agree with you. However when I was a kid, I never used my desk to study. I studied where it was comfortable, which either ended up being on top of my bed, or on the floor - both of which had plenty of room to spread out my materials.

If a kid thinks they have to use a desk and never takes initiative to do something else, I think that would speak more to a kid's future success than the size of their desk.

If we just focus on environmental factors, I think higher ceilings and more-open spaces would also lead to success just as much as having a larger desk would.

“Our findings may show that the absence of a desk is an indicator of poverty, which research has shown to be highly correlated with academic performance, both in the U.S. and internationally.”

This seems the obvious flaw in this hypothesis.

It sounds like a plausible mechanism by which students in poverty experience poorer academic results though, even if it's not the only mechanism.

I guess the question to ask is: if you gave the kids a desk and a room of their own by itself, would academic performance improve? Or would academic performance improve more if you raised the parents out of poverty?

One plausible mechanism out of thousands. The trouble is that it was a plausible mechanism before the study too. What have we gained?

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