School Is Not Healthy

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8 Comments

1. TGGP

   January 25, 2010 at 4:38 pm | Reply

   It’s not unhealthy either. On the other hand, prison is quite healthy for the sorts of people that wind up in prison. There are more on-screen prison murders than actual murders in prison.

2. andrew

   January 25, 2010 at 4:59 pm | Reply

   is wealth or social environment not a more important factor? overall don’t richer folks, for one reason or another, get better grades than poorer folks?

   naturally i think successful folk with high expectations of success for themselves and their offspring are more likely to keep them in school longer and encourage them to take part in educational activities outside of school as they expect them to have a good chance of finding a well-paid intellectually rewarding career

   i’m no social scientist or graduate of any kind, but i’d be surprised if there wasn’t a strong link between wealth and health. amount of time spent in school is a result of social standing in my opinion and is the more important factor on health and life expectancy

   btw, i read this blog regularly and as a layman with no qualifications after school i find it perfectly intelligible and thought provoking at the same time. if only more academics spoke plain english the world would be a better place i feel

   • TGGP

     January 25, 2010 at 10:18 pm | Reply

     Health problems could also cause you to become less wealthy.

     • andrew

       January 26, 2010 at 10:01 am |

       true, i guess it depends on how wealthy you are in the first place. i imagine those at the upper end of the social spectrum wouldn’t suffer as much, and the same could be said of those on unemployment benefits, as there’s nothing to be lost in earnings through being ill

       it does hold true for the working class and most of the middle class though, there’s only so much sick leave even proffessionals can take. i don’t get sick pay myself, but i’m only a store clerk, i don’t expect to

3. Hal Finney

   January 26, 2010 at 1:54 am | Reply

   It seems that the world holds less causation and more correlation than we think. I wonder why evolution would miscalibrate our judgment on such issues to err on the side of inferring causation?

   • Doug S.

     January 26, 2010 at 6:05 am | Reply

     It’s generally assumed that the cost of not noticing a causation that actually existed was a lot greater than finding one where it didn’t exist.

   • Michael Metcalf Bishop

     January 26, 2010 at 11:56 am | Reply

     Perhaps there is a cognitive bias, but there is also a social bias. There is more at stake with questions of causation than correlation, therefore people have more incentive to discover, or claim to have discovered, causal relationships.

   • Tim Tyler

     January 26, 2010 at 12:07 pm | Reply

     There is causation here: *something* is causing both better health outcomes and better access to education. It could be good genes or a good environment.